Saint triumphs in Home Tour thriller

Alan Tabern was the latest player to cause a surprise, pinching top spot in Monday’s PDC Home Tour action

Alan Tabern won a final-match-of-the-night shoot-out against Simon Whitlock to pinch Group 11 of the PDC Home Tour on a dramatic night.

All three of the night’s final matches went the distance, opening up a frantic dash for the line where Tabern eventually prevailed, thanks to his 5-2 win over young Dutchman Mike van Duivenbode.

With both men locked on four points and the same leg difference, it meant the head-to-head was needed to separate them and that’s where world No 97 Tabern held sway over the man ranked just a spot below him on the Order of Merit.

Whitlock, a World Championship runner-up in the BDO and the PDC, had entered the evening as the highest-ranked player and like Peter Wright, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith and James Wade found, ranking counted for little from the comfort of his home oche.

The Aussie ended the evening bottom of the group, despite eight 180s and a brilliant 170 finish while such was the topsy-turvy nature of the evening that Shepherd, runner-up to John Part at the 2008 World Championship, was the only man with a positive leg difference despite his two defeats,

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Simon Whitlock hit a big fish finish against Alan Tabern in the final match of the night in the PDC Home Tour.

Simon Whitlock hit a big fish finish against Alan Tabern in the final match of the night in the PDC Home Tour.

After each player had picked up a win in the opening four matches, the final two matches had everything riding on them with all four players still in with a chance of winning through to the second phase.

Van Duivenbode, bidding to become the fourth Dutchman to win a group, pinched a 5-4 win against Kirk Shepherd, coming from 4-2 down and surviving four missed match darts to put himself in with an outside chance.

Defeat spelt the end for Shepherd, who would have confirmed top spot in the group with a 5-3 win. Instead, the loss opened the door for his opponent as well as Tabern and Whitlock.

The pair served up a cracker that see-sawed and had six consecutive breaks to start the match before Tabern grabbed the first hold for a 4-3 lead. It meant Whitlock, whose only way through was to win 5-3, was out and an Aussie win would put Van Duivenbode through.

Whitlock gave the 21-year-old from Holland hope by forcing a deciding leg, but Tabern got over the line, pinning double 12 to take top spot and join a host of other surprise names in the second phase.

Jamie Lewis, Luke Woodhouse, Geert Nentjes, Nick Kenny, Ryan Searle, Jelle Klaasen and Martijn Kleermaker are among the names to have topped the opening groups

The action continues on Tuesday when Max Hopp headlines Group 12, while Monday also saw the latest batch of names confirmed for the upcoming week of action, including the legendary Steve Beaton and Chris Dobey.

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