FIVE IN A
ROW FOR "THE POWER".
Phil 'The Power' Taylor's relentless charge towards
sporting immortality was given another boost in Blackpool
as he claimed his fifth successive World Matchplay crown.
Taylor was at his pulsating best to power to an 18-8
win over Mark 'Flash' Dudbridge. Taylor's victory was
his seventh overall in the World Matchplay format and
Phil seems to have renewed enthusiasm for the game.
He stated at the beginning of the week that if anybody
wanted to beat him they would have to average over 100
and practice every bit as hard as he does. Well, on
this evidence the chasing pack have someway to go yet.
Full credit to Dudbridge though. He has earned many
admirers this week but he never really pushed Taylor.
A case of nerves and possibly a lack of stamina after
some long matches earlier in the tournament combined
to just affect Dudbridge's accuracy around the treble.
It all started promisingly enough for Flash with a
180 in the very first leg and it went with throw for
the first four legs. But Taylor's knack of winning the
very important legs is what sets him apart from mere
mortals. He broke throw in the 5th leg and from that
moment on Dudbridge was always chasing the match. The
game then settled down with throw again up untill the
15th when Phil managed to break throw yet again to make
it 9-6. At that stage Mark was still in the game but
no-one was expecting the run of legs that followed.
10 legs in a row for The Power put the result beyond
any doubt, the highlight of which being a 146 finish,
Phil's highest of the week. Taylor also hit eight maximum's
and averaged a magical 100.
 Dudbridge's
moment of glory came with a 136 checkout in the 25th
leg to stop the rot, a shot so good Phil gave him a
high five. Dudbridge, who's victories in the earlier
rounds over Wayne Mardle, Alan Warriner, Peter Manley
and Ronnie Baxter did not disgrace himself and he will
never go into a major tournament at odds of 80/1 again!
But when you're up against the greatest ever player
to throw tungsten it's always going to be a struggle.
"I've worked very hard this week," said Phil.
"I started off fantastically well and just took
my foot off the pedal and got a bit slack towards the
end and he won a couple of legs. "I'm very proud
of Mark this week, he's played great and he's a lovely
lad as well." Mark, while obviously disappointed,
admitted that the week has been a learning curve. "I
can take a lot out of this week, it's all experience
for me in the long run but full credit to Phil, he's
the greatest there's ever been."
Article originally published at PlanetDarts.co.uk.
Thank you to PlanetDarts for their support of Japan's
Darts Community!
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