Jenkins falls to Dutch courage

10:30am Friday 13th April 2007

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RAYMOND van Barneveld grabbed his first Holsten Premier League Darts win for five weeks with an 8-5 defeat of Ledbury's Terry Jenkins at the CIA.

The world champion has dipped in form recently with two wins and a brace of draws, but moved back to second in the table with the victory.

After a slow opening left the pair locked after six legs, the Dutchman burst into form in the second half of the match.

He won five of the final seven legs and hit 180s on his way to a vital win.

Jenkins took the first two legs of the match with van Barneveld sat on a double before the Dutchman landed a 76 finish on double 18 to get off the mark.

Jenkins held his throw in leg four, but a double salvo from van Barneveld put him level at the break, with the World Grand Prix finalist off target with four darts at the double in leg six.

Van Barneveld returned from the break with a maximum on his first visit to the oche, setting the tone for an electric period of play.

A second 180 of the leg set up an 11-dart finish - only for the Dutchman to miss six darts at double top before landing double ten, with Jenkins having just one dart at the bullseye to steal the throw.

The Ledbury man took leg eight with a 12-darter, but three successive legs from van Barneveld saw him jump out to 7-4.

Jenkins threatened a fightback by winning leg 12 in 13 darts, but van Barneveld wrapped up the win by matching that in the next with double 18.

"I wanted to get the win and was focused for this," said van Barneveld.

"The first three or four legs were a disaster but Terry missed a few doubles and I went into the break at 3-3. After the break I started playing well.

"I'm focused on reaching the semi-finals and we'll see what happens now. It doesn't matter who I play if I make the last four."