The entire second round of the World Seniors Darts Championship will be played out on the Circus Tavern stage on Saturday when the 16 men who made it through the opening round take to the stage to battle for a quarter final spot.
I think it is fair to say that the quality improved on Friday and now that everyone involved has had a match on the stage to shed any rust and tournament nerves we should expect much more great action throughout two sessions on Saturday.
Afternoon Session
The afternoon session looks absolutely tasty as anything on Saturday and it begins with a potential howitzer between Richie Howson, who many think is more than a dark horse for this tournament, and Andy Jenkins who looked in pretty ruthless order in dispatching of Bob Anderson in the first round. When they are done the semi-finalist of last year, Kevin Painter, goes back on a stage which has given him so much in the past. Waiting for him there is the veteran Dennis Harbour who is still throwing plenty of decent darts.
The second half of the afternoon begins with two men who were among the best performers in the opening round colliding as the multiple time TV finalist Terry Jenkins looks to back up his win over Chris Mason in the first round when he faces the former world finalist on this stage in Mark Dudbridge. The final match of the afternoon sees two world champions going at it when the current WDF champion Neil Duff takes on the 1983 champion of the world Keith Deller.
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Evening Session
To be fair the evening session on Saturday could be even better than the afternoon and that is saying something. It begins with the tie of the second round as the two favourites for glory collide for a spot in the quarter final when Robert Thornton continues his title defence against the 2015 Lakeside winner Scott Mitchell. Another world champion is on show in the second part of the evening when Martin Adams steps back onto the stage to take on Leonard Gates.
Phil Taylor needed an extended final set to make his way through the first round and for the second night in succession he will be involved in the penultimate match of the evening. His reward for his win over Colin McGarry is a date with Darren Johnson. The last match of a busy day and the second round as a whole sees yet another world champion stepping onto the stage when John Part looks to back up his win in the first round over Co Stompe when he takes on Darryl Fitton.
Betting
Once again there are a couple of bets which interest me over the course of Saturday but after finding out my luck was well and truly out on Friday I’ll stick with the one bet which comes in the form of Leonard Gates to beat Martin Adams. I take this bet with a heavy heart because regular readers or those who know me will know I’m a massive Wolfie fan but this is betting and we have to go on what we see and what we predict will happen.
Adams looked in a raw place in the first round. Everything seemed like it was a big effort, as it would for a man deep into his 60s and who has faced the health battles he has recently. His game wasn’t in a great place and you get the feeling he might be waiting to be put out of his misery. Adams didn’t hit a single 180 in four sets against Dave Prins and his 85.79 first nine average tells us he didn’t score all that great. He was 39% on his doubles which was encouraging but he’ll need better to come through here. Gates hit two 180s in his win over Tony O’Shea on Friday and has been operating at a better level than Adams recently having made the Grand Slam of Darts, the World Series Finals and the PDC World Championship. He was averaging over 90 for the first nine darts in the first round and probably has more to give than that. Adams might improve for the run but this is long course darts and it just doesn’t suit a 66-year-old over a 52-year-old. I’ll take the American to come through here.
Tips
Back L.Gates to beat M.Adams for a 3/10 stake at 1.90 with Betfair
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