Another week of Icons of Darts action from the Modus Darts team has reached its penultimate day with five men again battling it out in their homes on Friday, to provide some sporting entertainment and drama during lockdown.
This has been the best of the afternoon leagues with competitive matches almost a norm and the standard being pretty decent in the main. Here is hoping that nothing changes in either regard throughout Friday.
The Format
Each day from Monday to Saturday five men will battle it out in a round robin group with the overall champion being determined on Saturday May 2. Matches will see the players compete over the best of 9 legs with each of them at home in front of a webcam throwing at their own individual dartboards. Scores can be found on Dart Connect and the tournament will be streamed on the bookmaker live streaming consoles and for free on Dartslive.tv.
Here’s how the overall Icons Live League table looks after Day Four ??? @reddragondarts #IconsofDarts pic.twitter.com/o0GpoCb3pi
— MODUS Sports (@ModusDarts180) April 30, 2020
Thursday Recap
Not for the first time this week, we saw the group decided on leg difference with Arron Monk the man who came out on top via that differential. He saw off the current overall leader for the week in Jarred Cole who was two legs behind after both picked up three wins from their four matches. There were a pair of wins for Keelan Kay and Justin Smith but as far as his Thursday efforts went, Ritchie Edhouse exited the afternoon without reward having lost all four of his matches.
It seems that every week we have a frustrating afternoon in this Icons of Darts event and that certainly came along on Thursday. We missed out on the 6/1 group winner when Jarred Cole lost out on leg difference and if that wasn’t bad enough, in the final game that counted towards the table, Justin Smith beat Keelan Kay but he didn’t do it well enough to cover the handicap. What could have been two winners ended as three losers as Smith never landed a blow on Arron Monk.
Friday Line Up
The overall leader Jarred Cole has his day off on Friday so there is a chance for the other five men involved in the competition to make ground on him ahead of the finale on Saturday. Jose Justicia returns from his day off but he is way back. The other four men can all close in on Cole, although Keelan Kay can no longer catch him as he has his day off on Saturday. Arron Monk, Justin Smith and Ritchie Edhouse certainly can though so all eyes will be on those three to see what they can deliver throughout the day.
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Outright Betting
Arron Monk has topped the table both days he has been involved this week, and while he hasn’t always been completely convincing, and while it has only been on leg difference, he has to be respected for that. I’ve noted more and more than he is getting agitated when he throws poor darts and I remember him saying on Twitter that he fell out of love with the game a few months ago. I’m not saying that is happening again but it is a concern.
That is enough to make me swerve the 7/4 on him to win the group but in truth it is hard to oppose him. Justin Smith is probably the only man to oppose him with but I’m in no rush to do that after he cost me a few quid on Thursday. Ritchie Edhouse’s finishing is horrendous and the other two appear to be making up the numbers. If Smith wins without me on him at 7/2 then so be it but I’m a one bitten twice shy sort of guy!
Match Betting
There isn’t a whole lot that interests me over the course of the afternoon on Friday, but after a bad day on Thursday I’m quite happy to take just one bet and look to get the ship on track again and building up for a decent finish to the week on Saturday. The bet I like comes in the final match of the week between Jose Justicia and Keelan Kay, a battle the Spaniard has won twice so far but I fancy the youngster might level up the ledger.
Keelan Kay had one of his best days of the week so far on Thursday, winning a couple of matches and the two he lost saw him go down in a deciding leg on both occasions so he could easily have come away with four victories. Two of those matches saw him average in the 90s which is encouraging, especially as in the 12 matches he has played so far this week, Justicia hasn’t averaged more than 85. There is no escaping the fact that missed doubles is a severe weakness of Kay’s game but he has three wins from four against the overall leader this week so when it does come together he can take some beating. His scoring will earn him chances to finish here and at even money I’ll pay to have faith in him to find five of them.
Tips
Back K.Kay to beat J.Justicia for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Betway
Back him here:
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