So, it is on!
The eagerly anticipated all Unicorn Final between Phil Taylor and Gary Anderson will grace the stage at the Wolverhampton Civic.
Taylor put in a stunning shift to see off Adrian Lewis 16-9, while Anderson produced an amazing comeback to beat Mark Walsh 16-11.
Taylor though, will take some beating…..in imperious form yet again…..Lewis came close and the scoreline perhaps wasn’t a true reflection on how close it really was.
But Taylor hit some big finishes when it really mattered, as time and time again, he broke Lewis’ spirit in a pulsating semi-final.
He raced into a 7-3 lead, hitting Lewis with blow after blow…..3-0 up in the blink of an eye – 13 darter, 12 darter and 87 finish on the bull……the World Champion was left cursing missed chances, because he had darts to break Taylor in legs three and five.
You can’t afford to miss doubles when Taylor is in the mood!
Lewis actually hit a nine darter to win the 6th leg! It was actually a 10 darter with a bounce out, but it reminded Taylor that he was still in the hunt…..leg no.10 was crucial – Lewis sat on a double and Taylor finished 82….at that stage he had hit seven doubles from nine attempts!
But Lewis took his 180 tally to six, hit a terrific 131 finish and got it back to 8-6….then came THE big moment of the match.
Lewis came up with a fantastic 177 to leave 24 to break the Taylor throw and get it back to 8-7, only for ‘The Power’ to come up with an unbelievable 119 check-out under pressure.
It started a run of four consecutive legs and that was that…..finishes of 108 and 111 followed and although Lewis nailed a 145 and reached a total of 9 maximums, it was Taylor’s 5th 180 that set up the winning D12.
He averaged 107.76 to 101.10 from Lewis….it was that good but yet again, Taylor was just that little bit better and a 67% check-out success rate told its own story.
Anderson nearly threw it away, but after two semi-final defeats at Wolverhampton, he reached the GSOD Final for the first time.
It looked for a long time that missed doubles would cost him dearly, because every time he missed, Mark Walsh hit and you could see Anderson getting more and more frustrated.
After being 2-1 in front, the double-trouble started to hurt and Walsh won four consecutive legs! Anderson was banging in 180 after 180, but he just couldn’t finish the legs off.
In the 16th leg, the Unicorn star missed an incredible eight darts at D12 and D6 and Walsh pinched it to lead 10-6….then came the big turning point of the match.
Walsh himself blew two darts to go 11-6 up and Anderson stepped in….all of a sudden the darts and the doubles started going in, and all of a sudden, the doubts started creeping in for Walsh.
Anderson went on a fabulous run – winning 10 out of the next 11 legs to cross the finishing line in style and D4 clinched a victory that looked unlikely for such a long time.
13 x 180s for the Scot and an average of 96, but he knows it will have to be much, much better if he is to challenge Taylor in the William Hill Grand Slam of Darts Final!
Bring it on!
Semi-Final results:
Phil Taylor 16-9 Adrian Lewis
Mark Walsh 11-16 Gary Anderson
By STUART PYKE at the Wolves Civic
Photos courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC