Deller to meet Lloyd in quarter-finals

Keith Deller produced a magnificent comeback to beat World Number Two Alan Warriner 13-11 and move into the quarter-finals where he will lock horns with Colin Lloyd in the Stan James World Matchplay Darts Championships.

Deller was chasing the match throughout but never waved the white flag turning the match in his favour with a 170 out-shot in the eighteenth leg.

The best moment of opening exchanges saw 'Wozzer' somehow squeeze his dart through the eye of a needle and into the D8 bed, with his other two arrows blocking three quarters of the double.

Former World Champion 'Del Boy' struggled to find the all-important T20 - often dropping short - and Warriner took the initiative with his fluid throwing and opened up a 5-2 lead with yet another D20 finish.

Deller, still struggling with his technique, fell further behind to The Ice Man but rallied shortly before the interval - recording a much-needed 180 - to keep himself in the frame at 6-4.

Leg twelve proved a see-saw affair with Deller missing D16, D8 and D4 and the chance to go level at 6-6 but Lancaster man Warriner wrapped up the spoils with D8 to move further ahead.

Despite struggling with his form Deller dug deep and the cool exterior of Warriner began to melt away as Del Boy came back to level at 7-7.

Reigning World Grand Prix Champion Warriner kept pulling away only to be clawed back by Deller who produced a moment of magic in the 18th leg to make it all square again.

The Ipswich Town fan notched a perfect 170 out-shot, T20, T20 and Bull punching to the crowd in delight as the score-board read 9-9. It proved a real turning point in the match.

At 11 legs to 10 in Wozzer's favour, countless doubles went missed for both players eventually ending with Deller levelling again with 'Mad House' D1.

The nerves were jangling and no-one could hit a double as beads of sweat rippled down both players but the gutsy Deller hit D5 to move within one leg of victory.

Deller floated his dart into D16 to shock Warriner, his first ever victory over the Ice Man, with a 13-11 win and clenched his fist to show how much it meant to him.

In the evening's second match Bob Anderson survived a late scare to move into the last eight with a 13-9 win over Dave Askew.

'The Limestone Cowboy' was in the zone and opened up a three-leg cushion at 4-1 as 'Diamond Dave' cut a forlorn figure and gave himself an uphill task early on.

Blackpool's Anderson, brimming with confidence from his triumph over Peter Manley, had got his weapons out of their holster and recorded two maximums to help establish a 6-1 lead finishing with D10 and D20.

It was one-way traffic as Askew failed to come to terms with the ferocious pace set by his seasoned opponent who was riding off into the sunset.

Some electric double-shooting saw Anderson moved six legs ahead at 8-2 and Surrey-based Askew was in desperate need of a comeback a la Keith Deller.

The break seemed to fire him up and Diamond netted the next two legs to reduce the arrears, largely thanks to some big Double misses from his opponent.

However, the Askew resurgence did not last long as Anderson pulled out two

D10s in successive legs to pull away at 11-5.

Taking the next leg with D4 Anderson had the throw for the match.

However, Askew produced a 116 finish, T20, 20, D16 to stay alive in the encounter and took the next leg to put pressure on the experienced Anderson.

Anderson could not ride past the winning post but after dropping a few unnecessary legs he found D20 and moved into the last eight.

John Part kept his nerve to withstand some great double-shooting by Cliff Lazarenko to move into the quarter finals with a 13-9 triumph.

Part had not dropped a leg in the tournament so far but after winning the opener 'Big Cliff' soon changed that finishing on D20 to even matters up.

The quality in the early throws was of an extraordinarily high standard with Darth Maple finishing on 121 with 20, T17 and Bull while Lazarenko pulled out a 118 check-out, T20,18, D20 to draw level at 2-2.

There was no separating these two as the legs went with the throw and the duo entered the interval locked at 5-5.

In a ding-dong battle former World Champion Part and Lazarenko had chances to forge ahead by more than one leg but neither of the players could break the deadlock.

'Big Cliff' had hit an amazing ration of eight out of nine doubles - after 11 legs - to keep him ahead of the higher-scoring Part.

Locked at 9-9 it was turning into a classic and the Blackpool atmosphere was electric as two crowd favourites slugged it out at the oche.

Part then upped the ante by proving triumphant in the 19th leg and a 117 check-out, T20, 17, D20 gave him a two-leg cushion at 11-9.

Darth Maple was in fine shape and won the next leg to move within one leg of victory with Lazarenko trailing at 9-12.

A maximum 180 with his first three darts put Part in pole position and he made no mistake at the final hurdle to go through 13-9 Part will now face the rejuvenated Bob Anderson in the last eight.

"That was a great dart match and I enjoyed it all the way through," said Part after the match.

Results:

Second Round -

Alan Warriner 11 Keith Deller 13

Bob Anderson 13 Dave Askew 9

John Part 13 Cliff Lazarenko 9

Quarter Finals -

Thursday, 1st August 2002

1.00pm: Keith Deller v Colin Lloyd

3.00pm: Bob Anderson v John Part

7.00pm: Phil Taylor v Chris Mason

9.00pm: Ronnie Baxter v John Lowe