TheOche.com

YOU KNOW, there’s an old saying in the Darts world…..scoring’s for show-doubles for dough!

It’s a phrase which the Premier League players will no doubt be accustomed to, and one which many will recall tonight after their gruelling encounters in Week ten of the competition in Exeter.

Phil Taylor seems to be suffering as much as anybody else, again missing a host of doubles which allowed Terry Jenkins to clinch a point, and stay within touching distance of Raymond Barneveld and John Part.

The league leader went two legs up and seemed comfortable, but a maximum in the third leg got Jenkins back into the match, and stuck with Phil all the way until the final leg, where he checked out 100 under enormous pressure to manage a 7-7 draw.

The World number one admitted himself that he had `got away with murder` in his match against `The Bull`, and was perhaps lucky to get away with a point. Whatever the case, he remains top of the table by a single point, and seems determined to stay there come the end of week 14.

If the table remains the same it could mean that Taylor will take on Barneveld in the semi finals, which will be an interesting match to say the least- not necessarily the final that the fans would want, although on current form the Dutchman wouldn’t really be given much of a chance would he?

Infact, the five times champion of the world is facing an uphill struggle just to get to Wembley. With Part playing two matches in Exeter, he managed to put himself above Barney by one point and give himself a fantastic chance of preventing Raymond from making the play-offs.

The Canadian had a successful evening with all things considered; he beat Mervyn King 8-5 with the help of some exceptional finishing, and then managed to claim a point against Jelle Klaasen who although stands no chance of qualifying, certainly gave the Canadian something to think about.

For fans who didn’t tune in to the action, Wayne Mardle was absent due to a virus that he had picked up during the week and so couldn’t compete. Therefore the Canadian played two matches, one against King and one against Klaasen and managed to pick up three points.

He will be absent next week in Nottingham, where Mardle will play two games to make up for his nonappearance this week.

It certainly ups the pressure on Barneveld though. He may have played a game less, but he would definitely prefer to be in the position of Part having accumulated more points at this moment in time.

Jenkins too may believe he still has half a chance, but needs to win at least three of his remaining four matches if he’s to reach the semi finals-and even then results will need to go his way.

Mervyn King was disappointing; although he averaged as well as Part, he wasn’t at his best by any stretch of the imagination and he would probably admit it was his worst showing in the Premier League to date.

To average less than ninety in this competition would usually signal defeat, but Part wasn’t averaging well either in the first match of the evening which made the match quite competitive, and it came down to who could hit their doubles at crucial times.

The Canadian was up to the task, and ended up securing a three leg deficit over the former Masters champion, who although lost, looks comfortable to secure a semi final spot in his debut season.

James Wade too has pretty much guaranteed his position at Wembley. He played brilliantly against Barneveld, checking out 101 at one stage and thoroughly deserved his 8-5 victory, although there’s definitely more to come from James you would feel.

He admitted himself that he has been `hot and cold` lately-and his performance against King last week displays this point all too clearly. When he’s playing well though he’s very difficult to beat, and even Barney himself said in his interview last week that he is `a world-class player. `

The top three have more or less cemented their positions in the final four now, but that final place is still up for grabs, although I will put my neck on the line and say that Barneveld will definitely retrieve the place back and make it to finals night.

Write him off at your peril because it would hurt him more than anything to miss out!

Here is the current Whyte and Mackay Premier League table:

Wayne Mardle and Jelle Klaasen can perhaps rule themselves out of the play-offs completely now-they are in my opinion too far adrift to think about finals night, and only Jenkins and Part will challenge Barneveld for that final place.

With the way they’re all playing, it could well go down to the wire at the CIA Arena in Cardiff on May the 7th as to who claims that final position, and that certainly would guarantee huge excitement in the last round of fixtures!

And who does Raymond Van Barneveld play in Cardiff? Terry Jenkins!

The Dutchman will be hoping he’s got enough in his pocket before that final match as the former runner-up is more than capable of defeating him.

Stay tuned-the Premier League is far from over!