Snakebite and Ando’s Epic Berlin Battle ends in Stalemate
Gary Anderson needed to produce a hat-trick of leg wins to salvage a Unibet Premier League draw with Peter Wright.
The Scotland World Cup stars slugged out a cracking 6-6 draw high-quality scoring and finishing in front of a record 12,000 crowd at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin last night.
After a shaky start it looked like Snakebite would win it until Anderson reeled off three successive leg wins to steal a point.
Anderson admitted: “It’s going to be one of those years when it’s going to be tight right up until the last couple of weeks. People will move up and down and it’s going to be really tough.
“It’s going to be a great Premier League for the fans, but not so much for the players, it’s going to get nervy for a few.
“In fairness I had to pull this one out of the fire but you do have to grab the odd point and win here and there in this league.”
Wright added: “It was especially important get a point against a double world champion like Gary. He’s not an easy man to beat and he wouldn’t have been happy losing to Michael last week, so I’m happy to get a draw.”
First blood went to Anderson as he capitalised on a sloppy doubles start from Wright to lead 2-0 thanks to a wonderful 150 checkout.
But Wright had been scoring heavily and soon hit back to level it up. Ando re-took the lead briefly before Snakebite appeared to have the match in the bag at 6-3 in front.
However back came a determined Anderson with tops, double 16 and then bull to sneak a draw despite five 180s and a 105 average.
Michael Smith became the shock Unibet Premier League pacesetter with a big win over Simon Whitlock. Bully Boy was an easy winner over Simon Whitlock 7-3 in their table-topping clash last night. Smith, mentored by Gary Anderson, now reckons he has to improve despite going top of the league. He said: “That game was a little bit sloppy but I keep taking the wins. Two years ago I was giving games away but I’m grabbing them now. “I thought I was going to throw that away because my first dart to win the match was a mile away but I managed it third dart. “Eight points now after four weeks and I just want to keep it up, keep picking up points so I don’t get eliminated. “My ambition is still to avoid elimination after nine weeks. Once I achieve that I will push on for the top four and to the O2. “I need to play better because I’ve still got to play the likes of Michael van Gerwen, Peter Wright and Rob Cross. “I’ve got the game, I need to start showing it now. I can do it in little spurts in every other leg but then I fell asleep when I was 4-1 up against Simon. “I was far too laid back instead of being like Michael or Gary Anderson and kill them off, I let too many players back and then I had to pull my finger out and do it all again. “If I had taken my chances early on I could have been five or six-nil up straight away. But in the end we both missed chances. All I care about is I came away with two points, that’s all that matters.”
Mighty Michael van Gerwen is now up to second in the table after a comfortable win over Daryl Gurney. The World No1 comfortably beat the Derry ace 7-2 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena and is now ominously chasing down Michael Smith at the top. Superchin managed to peg MVG back to 2-1 with a fine 68 finish but after that it was all about the double world champion to leave Gurney fighting a relegation battle. Van Gerwen hit a 103 average and said: “I think I played OK, wasn’t the best game of my career but I think I did the right things at the right moments. “Unfortunately I missed six darts to go 3-0 up because I wanted a bigger lead, but what can you do? “It’s one of those things that happen in games and a bit annoying at times but for the rest I played alright, I didn’t make a lot of mistakes. “I think this crowd deserved a 170 finish and also for myself, of course you try but missing doesn’t count you need to hit them. “I play in Germany quite a lot but then you come to the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin and this is amazing, this is the next step forward for Germany. “This is why we try so hard, why I work so hard. I’m glad so many people like darts. “My confidence is high, I’m winning tournaments and for the floor events I still can pump myself up and that’s very important. I love winning, I love it. “When I’m not playing in a tournament and I look at the results and I think of some players ‘how can they get in the final, unbelievable’! “Then I play again and for me it’s about winning, I’m always desperate to win. I do anything that’s necessary to get that victory. You need to have that feeling if you want to get something from life. “Darts is getting bigger, better all over the world. Four, five years ago darts in Germany was only small and now it’s so big. If it can be like this is England, Germany and Holland, we can do this in the rest of the world with the World Series.”
World Champion Rob Cross beat Raymond van Barneveld 7-3 and after a tough start is now in the hunt for a top four place. He said: “I’m settling down. Even tonight was the biggest crowd in darts and I didn’t really notice it. I think Barney let me off a little bit and I was glad for that obviously. “Sometimes you need a bit of luck to win these games. I actually tidied the game up quite nicely but I expected Raymond to be a bit stronger, to be honest. For whatever reason he wasn’t. “I started off and I was poor but at least now I’m getting there and getting used to be in the league. Maybe by the end I can win it. “I’m now used to being announced as champion of the world. The only thing that has changed is my practice routine and now it’s come back. I feel comfortable in my self and that’s all that matters. If you feel out of place you are going to lose every week, like I was!”
Mensur Suljovic secured his first win of the campaign 7-3 against Gerwyn Price and now believes he must keep working hard. He said: “I am over the moon to win here in Berlin. I’m not last in the table anymore but it is very tough. I must keep working hard.”
By Phil Lanning (@lannomedia)
Michael Smith became the shock Unibet Premier League pacesetter with a big win over Simon Whitlock. Bully Boy was an easy winner over Simon Whitlock 7-3 in their table-topping clash last night. Smith, mentored by Gary Anderson, now reckons he has to improve despite going top of the league. He said: “That game was a little bit sloppy but I keep taking the wins. Two years ago I was giving games away but I’m grabbing them now. “I thought I was going to throw that away because my first dart to win the match was a mile away but I managed it third dart. “Eight points now after four weeks and I just want to keep it up, keep picking up points so I don’t get eliminated. “My ambition is still to avoid elimination after nine weeks. Once I achieve that I will push on for the top four and to the O2. “I need to play better because I’ve still got to play the likes of Michael van Gerwen, Peter Wright and Rob Cross. “I’ve got the game, I need to start showing it now. I can do it in little spurts in every other leg but then I fell asleep when I was 4-1 up against Simon. “I was far too laid back instead of being like Michael or Gary Anderson and kill them off, I let too many players back and then I had to pull my finger out and do it all again. “If I had taken my chances early on I could have been five or six-nil up straight away. But in the end we both missed chances. All I care about is I came away with two points, that’s all that matters.”
Mighty Michael van Gerwen is now up to second in the table after a comfortable win over Daryl Gurney. The World No1 comfortably beat the Derry ace 7-2 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena and is now ominously chasing down Michael Smith at the top. Superchin managed to peg MVG back to 2-1 with a fine 68 finish but after that it was all about the double world champion to leave Gurney fighting a relegation battle. Van Gerwen hit a 103 average and said: “I think I played OK, wasn’t the best game of my career but I think I did the right things at the right moments. “Unfortunately I missed six darts to go 3-0 up because I wanted a bigger lead, but what can you do? “It’s one of those things that happen in games and a bit annoying at times but for the rest I played alright, I didn’t make a lot of mistakes. “I think this crowd deserved a 170 finish and also for myself, of course you try but missing doesn’t count you need to hit them. “I play in Germany quite a lot but then you come to the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin and this is amazing, this is the next step forward for Germany. “This is why we try so hard, why I work so hard. I’m glad so many people like darts. “My confidence is high, I’m winning tournaments and for the floor events I still can pump myself up and that’s very important. I love winning, I love it. “When I’m not playing in a tournament and I look at the results and I think of some players ‘how can they get in the final, unbelievable’! “Then I play again and for me it’s about winning, I’m always desperate to win. I do anything that’s necessary to get that victory. You need to have that feeling if you want to get something from life. “Darts is getting bigger, better all over the world. Four, five years ago darts in Germany was only small and now it’s so big. If it can be like this is England, Germany and Holland, we can do this in the rest of the world with the World Series.”
World Champion Rob Cross beat Raymond van Barneveld 7-3 and after a tough start is now in the hunt for a top four place. He said: “I’m settling down. Even tonight was the biggest crowd in darts and I didn’t really notice it. I think Barney let me off a little bit and I was glad for that obviously. “Sometimes you need a bit of luck to win these games. I actually tidied the game up quite nicely but I expected Raymond to be a bit stronger, to be honest. For whatever reason he wasn’t. “I started off and I was poor but at least now I’m getting there and getting used to be in the league. Maybe by the end I can win it. “I’m now used to being announced as champion of the world. The only thing that has changed is my practice routine and now it’s come back. I feel comfortable in my self and that’s all that matters. If you feel out of place you are going to lose every week, like I was!”
Mensur Suljovic secured his first win of the campaign 7-3 against Gerwyn Price and now believes he must keep working hard. He said: “I am over the moon to win here in Berlin. I’m not last in the table anymore but it is very tough. I must keep working hard.”
By Phil Lanning (@lannomedia)