The Darts Shop

Phil Taylor tonight goes head-to-head with one of his biggest rivals – and says he's planning to dish out a trouncing.
'The Power' from the Potteries and Kevin Painter write another chapter in their rivalry when they meet at the Alexandra Palace with a place in the quarter-finals of the PDC Ladbrokes.com world championship at stake.
Taylor set up tonight's clash by handing Dutch teenager Michael van Gerwen a 4-0 hammering in the second round on Saturday night and has dropped only three legs on his way through to the last 16.
He warned Painter: "If he doesn't play well, I'm going to trounce him. Kevin's a competitor, he never gives in, but I'm here to win back the world championship."
Taylor has done that 13 times before and had to hold off a tremendous challenge from Painter in the 2004 final before coming through in sudden death in the 13th set.
Twelve months later, their quarter-final shoot-out at the Circus Tavern ended in a post-match bust up that led to both being fined.
Painter was incensed by Taylor completing a 5-1 thrashing by checking out on the bulls-eye when he was left 50 – and it was a bulls-eye finish that took 'The Power' through to tonight's show down.
He finished his demolition of Van Gerwen with a 121 finish and a 102.57 average.
Van Gerwen had missed a dart at a double to beat him in the first round last year and Taylor suffered no such alarms when they met again.
Taylor, beaten only four times in the 15-year history of the PDC event, started the match with a 103 finish and hit top gear in the second set.
He started it with a 10-dart leg after starting with back-to-back 180s, won the second leg with a 105 check out and wrapped up the set in 13 darts.
He went on to finish the match in style and said: "I'm pleased with my form. Michael's got a lot to learn, but he was playing the master. I wanted to keep him under pressure and I did that."
Painter, involved in a bust-up with Potteries thrower Adrian Lewis in April that led to both being handed suspended bans, reached the last 16 with a 4-1 win over Carlos Rodriguez from Spain, having been taken all the way to a sudden death final leg by Matt Clark in the first round.

Andy Hamilton overcame a scare against qualifier Tony Ayres before keeping his world championship bid on track.

The No.7 seed from Stoke trailed 2-1 against the newcomer from Sussex, only to reel off three straight sets to book his place in the last 16 at London's Alexandra Palace.

He will now face the young Dutch ace Jelle Klaasen, who later whitewashed his compatriot Jan vander Rassel.

Hamilton struggled early on, but found some fine form as the contest progressed to land eight 180s and an impressive six ton-plus finishes, including the highest possible checkout of 170.

"I finished well and that's what won me the game," said Hamilton. "Some of the finishes hurt him but I need to get the whole package together now."

Barrie Bates and Ronnie Baxter also booked their last-16 spots. Bates matched Hamilton's six ton-plus finishes in ending the hopes of American Bill Davis, who had knocked out defending champion John Part last week but went down to a 4-2 loss.

Baxter took an impressive 4-1 win over Denis Ovens, coming from a set down to set up a third round meeting with world No.2 Raymond van Barneveld.

Ovens ultimately paid the price for six missed darts for the fourth set, which would have levelled the game but saw him fall 3-1 down as Baxter pulled through for victory.

"It was very much a case of job done," said Baxter. "I gave away the first set, which was a bit unlike me but I relaxed as the game went on.

"The fourth set was important and in the last set I played how I would like to all the time.

"It's been a long time since I've done that on stage and I can go a long way if I stay relaxed and do that again."