Colin Lloyd puts the bite on James Wade

Colin Lloyd

Having ended the defence of his title at the UK Open earlier than desired, James Wade finds himself with some spare time this weekend.

He might chose to catch up on some television, although he would do well to avoid any channels showing the film Jaws.

Colin Lloyd’s form from his days as a World Matchplay winner in 2005 began to plummet after his 11-2 loss to Phil Taylor at the 2006 UK Open. But the man they call “Jaws” scented just a hint of blood in the water against Wade, who had been erratic at best during the Premier League season and had almost lost to Stephen Bunting in the second round at the Reebok Stadium in Bolton.

Lloyd led 3-0 before Wade produced finishes of 170 and 160 to pull back to 5-5, only for the former world No.1 to win the last four legs on the spin for a 9-5 victory to seal his place in the last 32, where he meets Joe Cullen.

"James is a great champion and I've got a lot of respect for him, but I had nothing to lose because he's the defending champion so I just went up there to play my best darts," Lloyd said to pdc.tv. "It was a tough game and it's great to come through it, and I can relax and enjoy Saturday now."

The format of this tournament means it is no respecter of reputations but Taylor has won it four times and kept himself in the hunt once more after Roland Scholten 9-7, the 2004 champion.

But Taylor, who had been so imperious at times in the Premier League, but the 15-times world champion looked in trouble after his 3-1 lead became 6-6 Scholten hit full stride. Taylor then broke pulled out a 101 finish and took two of the next three legs to edge into the last 32.

"I was really nervous there so it's a relief to get through," Taylor admitted. "That's the best I've seen Roland play for three years or so because he's had a bad shoulder injury and I didn't expect him to play like that.

"He came back well and put me under pressure, and I'll admit that my bottle was going. I was shaking a little bit because you don't want to get beaten in your first game here. I can relax now and concentrate on getting through the weekend now, and hopefully winning the title on Sunday."

Gary Anderson never seemed to have much chance of defending his Premier League title but he scored his first televised nine-dart finish during a 9-3 win over amateur David Dodds, a gardener from Durham who had to win three games on Thursday night just to reach the third round. Anderson, using a new design of darts in competition for the first time, hit his perfect finish in the third leg of the game, following two 180s with a 141 finish to put himself in line for a £10,000 bonus.

"It's very special," said Anderson, who had been on the receiving end of a nine-darter from Mervyn King in Bolton two years ago. "I've never done one on TV before so it's very nice to hit one here. The nine-darter actually came a bit early in the game for me because it was only the third leg and I started thinking about it and lost my focus on the game, but I came good."

Elsewhere, world champion Adrian Lewis was less than happy at playing on board three. However, he was still on board – having been a third-round loser to Terry Jenkins last year – after he beat Kevin McDine 9-1. "It feels fantastic to win so well,” Lewis said.

"Last year I lost to Terry Jenkins in the third round so it's great to be through. I thought I was solid and it was a good performance, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the weekend."

Unlike Wade.

Paul Wheeler

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