We dandered off to Robin Park (which is, as far as I can see, robin-free, misleadingly) soon afterwards, with Lee again kindly providing chaufferage, a thick blanket on the back seat providing more than ample protection from the molted dog-hair beneath. Time for banter with assorted distinguished members of the darting community, including young Kirk Shepherd who laments the lack of vodka in his system, but crosses his fingers that 5 pints of lager will produce some improved form, which it does with a 6-1 win over Andy Pearson in the first round, and a creditable 6-4 reverse against Andy Smith.
The Allocation Gods decree that Board 2 is to be my officious realm today, resulting in the markage of the following matches :
Preliminary Round
Arron Monk 6 Adrian Bolitho 1
Arron was in top scoring form for this one, where the result never was in doubt.
Round 1 (Last 128)
Nigel Heydon 6 Gary Welding 1
Both players came into this match with good form from the previous day, but the result was surprising on two counts - that it was so one-sided, and that yesterday's Quarter-Finalist didn't win. Surprising before the match, but not during, as Nigel's scoring was superb.
Brian Woods 6 Steve Farmer 2
It was my first time to mark one of Pecker Woods' games and my pre-conception of him being an aggressive character went completely out the window as he was utterly pleasant and mild-mannered. Steve is not having a great run of form currently and this was a surprising but very tame ending of his qualification prospects for the UK Open Finals in Bolton.
Colin Lloyd 6 Andy Pearce 2
I hadn't marked Colin since MCing his exhibition with Barney in Ennis last year and it was great to see him still in the very best of humour, as his results haven't been great of late by his own standards. Andy did very little to test him here, scoring decently in the first and last couple of legs but very poorly in between.
Phil Taylor 6 Arron Monk 2
This was my first time to mark Phil in the UK - the only other time being in Killarney last October, so getting his board today was a particular thrill. A shock was on the cards when Arron went 2-0 up, after which I had to call a quick 20-second break to obtain a marker pen from Paul Hinks who was luckily nearby, as all of the pens decided to completely give up at the start of the second leg, resulting in much squeaking and virtually invisible scores. Oddly, upon my speedy return, Phil proceeded to win the next 6 legs, with Arron remarking to him afterwards (without any malice) that he hated playing him as he still found it to be an intimidating experience. Another pre-conception was shattered as I expected him to be more in his opponent's face but he plays his own game completely, commenting directly to me fairly frequently about any bad scores that he has.
Second Round (Last 64)
Nigel Heydon 6 Brian Woods 5
This was the game of the weekend for me, played in great spirit, and featuring excellent scoring and finishing. The game could have gone either way, and Pecker, who has probably fared least well of the recent BDO movers, definitely has a run to the quarter finals or better in him soon.
Phil Taylor 6 Colin Lloyd 2
"It's been a long time since we did this, Phil," said Colin, during a very jovial warm-up, where he proceeded to remark to Phil that it was good that the PDC had honoured them by appointing Paul Nicholson as their marker. Cue laughter a-plenty. Colin didn't play badly and seemed happy to get two legs off Phil, although he could certainly have won at least two more if he had hit his doubles.
Round 3 (Last 32)
Phil Taylor 6 Nigel Heydon 2
Phil's most amusing comment to me came during this game when he said : "He's f**king good, this c**t, isn't he?", and I could not help but reply : "He is!" If matches were won on scoring, Nigel would have edged it, but Phil took out doubles with clinical precision. It was very clear that Phil was impressed with Nigel though.
Round 4 (Last 16)
Phil Taylor 6 Joe Cullen 1
Phil's defeat by Joe in Killarney last year would definitely have been preying on both players' minds, but it was Joe who displayed this most, and he clearly looked uncomfortable from the warm-up onwards. Phil made no comment about it during the game, or indeed after, but with the score being what it was he didn't need to. Joe couldn't get out of there quickly enough afterwards (although fair play to him, he didn't join the Non-Mr-Shakey-Hands Club).
That brought my marking duties to an end - for the record, Phil went on to beat Colin Osborne 6-3 in the final. Time to head to Wigan Wallgate station in the sunny but very windy conditions, where I caught a train to Manchester, and after a pit stop for a dirt-cheap-but-largely-uninspiring £6.99 feast of Vegetarian Lasagne and Chili Con Carne in a Wetherspoon's-type establishment in the station, I caught a train to the airport to check into the Hilton for the night, registering my earliest retirement of the year, with lights-out at 10pm!
Power-ful stuff
Contentment : 15 / 25
Excitement : 5 / 10
Memorability : 6 / 15
Overall Score : 52% (11th out of 121)
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