James Wade and Colin Osborne eased into the 2nd Round at the World Championship and both revealed: “you ain’t seen nothing yet!”
The Unicorn duo had 3-0 wins over Brendan Dolan and Charles Losper respectively. Wade now faces Tony Eccles – looking for revenge after losing to ‘The Viper’ at the World Grand Prix, while Osborne takes on his nemesis Vincent van der Voort, who has lost to a dozen times over the last two years.
Unicorn’s World No.3 obviously felt under pressure early on. He scraped through the first set with a 79 average…..but in truth, he was gifted the set by the Irishman, who missed six darts to stun Wade.
He grew in confidence and stature as the match went on and upped his average to nearly 90 in winning six of the next seven legs to sweep to victory.
“I was a bit rusty and I was finding my feet again but I was pleased with the way I finished strongly and against Eccles – lightening won’t strike twice!” he said.
Osborne also made a scrappy start against Losper but then proceeded to nail a series of sensational finishes.
Using new gold barrels on his Unicorn darts, ‘The Wizard’ was weaving magical spells!
He found a terrific 121 to win the first set, then came a 104 to open the second but there was better to come.
Osborne took out a brilliant 167 – the highest check-out of the tournament so far and won the set with a 110 kill.
The South African fought back to claim a two leg lead in set three but Osborne reeled off three legs on the spin and his fourth 180 set up a comfortable win. He lost only three legs in the match.
“I know I have struggled against Vincent in the past,” he admitted. “This is the biggest match between us and I will come out on top this time!”
Earlier in the day, there was huge disappointment for Kirk Shepherd.
This year, no repeat of the heroics that took him all the way to the World Championship final 12 months ago. He lost in a deciding set tie-break to Dutchman Jan van der Rassel.
Tuesday night 1st Round results:
Ronnie Baxter 3-1 Marko Kantele
Colin Osborne 3-0 Charles Losper
James Wade 3-0 Brendan Dolan
Vincent van der Voort 3-0 Nandor Bezzeg
Tuesday afternoon’s 1st Round results:
Andy Smith 2-3 Tony Ayres
Adrian Gray 0-3 Paul Nicholson
Kirk Shepherd 2-3 Jan van der Rassel
Tony Eccles 3-2 Remco van Eijden
Full 2nd Round draw:
Dennis Smith v Kevin McDine
Alan Tabern v Co Stompe
Carlos Rodriguez v Kevin Painter
Mensur Suljovic v Mark Dudbridge
Phil Taylor v Michael van Gerwen
Wayne Mardle v Robert Thornton
Mervyn King v Mark Walsh
Ronnie Baxter v Denis Ovens
Andy Hamilton v Tony Ayres
Jelle Klaasen v Jan van der Rassel
Raymond van Barneveld v Wes Newton
Bill David v Barrie Bates
Adrian Lewis v Paul Nicholson
Dennis Priestley v John Magowan
Colin Osborne v Vincent van der Voort
James Wade v Tony Eccles
We will be back with all the news and comment from the Alexandra Palace on December 27, when Kevin Painter and Phil Taylor looks for the victories that would see the pair clash in a last 16 World Championship all Unicorn showdown!
From everyone at Unicorn – have a very Happy Christmas!
By STUART PYKE