Phil Taylor

By Phill Catterick: Phil Taylor maintained his position at the top of the Whyte and Mackay Premier League following an impressive 8-2 win over Dutch rival Raymond Van Barneveld at the Westpoint Arena in Exeter.

The Power went 2-0 down after struggling to get a foothold on the game, and perhaps should have lost the third leg too, but Barneveld missed the bull and Taylor cleaned up to reduce the deficit.

He took the remaining three legs before the break to go 4-2 up, and then rounded off proceedings by clinching every leg after returning to the stage to maintain his unbeaten run.

The result means Barneveld has yet to beat Taylor in the Premier League, and the 2007 World Champion seems to be struggling in his attempt to secure a play-off position.

Taylor, from Stoke-on-Trent, may not have been in top form but was nonetheless delighted with the two points.

He told Sky Sports: “I’m happy with the win, it wasn’t comfortable as I was a bit nervous and for some reason for the first two or three legs I didn’t have the concentration. I don’t know what the averages were but Raymond’s not the same player he was.

“Sometimes it’s not easy to perform week in week out. I enjoy it which is the main thing and I’m looking forward to Manchester.”

Taylor also highlighted the players he believes will pose the main threat in his pursuit of his fifth Premier League title: “Adrian’s been brilliant during this Premier League and James is playing well. Terry Jenkins is always there and Ronnie is superb, he’s smiling and dancing even in the practice room.”

Next week Taylor meets Mervyn King at the Manchester Evening News Arena, and with the two having had some previous misunderstandings, he was quick to point out that what has happened is in the past.

He explained: “It will be a good game next week, my practising is becoming better. Of course it is (forgotten about) – we can fall out but not fall out. He’s a professional and there’s rivalry there but everybody wants to be a winner.”

Fellow Stoke player Adrian Lewis produced a magnificent comeback against reigning champion James Wade to walk away with a point after it seemed certain he would walk away with nothing.

The man from Aldershot flew out of the blocks producing 148 and 104 checkouts in the first two legs, and then went 3-0 up which seemed to kick Lewis into action.

Before the break Jackpot had levelled the match at 3-3 to give the Exeter crowd something to shout about, but Wade wasn’t finished yet and took four of the next five legs to go 7-4 up. But just when it seemed all was lost, Lewis came fighting back and won the final three legs to secure a draw which keeps him in the hunt for a play-off place.

Having lost all three of his opening matches Wade was understandably disappointed not to have seized his chance, but Lewis was delighted to get a point having gone three legs down on two separate occasions.

The Premier League party travel to Manchester next week for the fifth round of matches where the fixtures will be:

• James Wade v Ronnie Baxter
• Phil Taylor v Mervyn King
• Terry Jenkins v Raymond van Barneveld
• Adrian Lewis v Simon Whitlock