Matchplay day 1 - this is all going nicely OH GOD NO

Let's just chuck out some winners and losers, shall we?

Winner - Mervyn King. Hugely. Four legs won in four visits is pretty impressive, two of them at key points - one after it went 5-5 to kick off the final session, then one to ice the match, getting a big lead and then killing the game when it looked like it might have been in doubt.

Winner - Rob Cross. First three legs were a bit ropey, but after that zero complaints can be had - finished every leg after that in 15 darts or less, averaged 97 in the three legs he didn't win, it didn't appear flashy but it was extremely competent and a big warning sign to the field.

Winner - Nathan Aspinall. Odd choice, but there really wasn't much he could have done - every leg he won was in fifteen or less, and on the legs King won, he was one point below averaging 100 (no, not that he was averaging 99, he scored 4599 in 46 visits). Sometimes you just run into someone who's unplayable.

Loser - Gerwyn Price. For the love of god, what was that? Even when it was looking fairly comfortable at 6-3, he hadn't won a single leg in fifteen darts, then he proceeds to do a leg that I'd be disappointed with by not even halving his score in fifteen darts, somehow hauls it to 8-8, misses a match dart on the 140 to avoid overtime, and the rest is history.

Everyone else I'd have to say was break even. Bunting was simply the more competent player early on but there was a reason why Price was able to have a decent lead in the early stages. Anderson was poor, at least for his standards, Noppert at least showed a bit of a pulse after gifting Anderson a 4-0 lead primarily through missed doubles, extremely annoying as he'd have won the match if he took his chances, Dobey was at least putting himself into positions to win legs but I think got a bit disheartened after losing the first couple of legs, which he could easily have won.

It's Super Sunday tomorrow, we're going to lose a quarter of the field from what it started as, we only have the Wattimena play to concern ourselves with on the betting front but there's so many hugely interesting games, let's enjoy the action without worrying about pluses and minuses.