BDO Darts Betting: O'Shea can go all the way

Darts / David Croft / 09 January 2009 / Leave a Comment

Given the freezing conditions this week it's been rather apt that one or two players have frozen on the Oche during the course of the BDO World Championships, but to see both the defending champion and then the No.1 seed exit the tournament in the space of 24 hours was a big shock... David Croft reports from Frimley Green.

Gary Anderson's troubles on this particular stage have been well documented which is why I pointed out last week that Betfair punters took him on at their peril. But the manor of his defeat to Tony O Shea surprised me.

Anderson was ahead on the scoring in the majority of the legs and finished with a better average too, but his doubles let him down. Leg after leg after leg he had the chance to take it, but just couldn't hit the target. It was, I'm sad to say, another night where the best player in the BDO system couldn't live up to his top billing.

The night before, Mark Webster suffered a similar fate. His whitewash at the hands of John "Boy" Walton was as unexpected as a UFO flying into a North Sea wind farm (how spooky was that by the way?) At no stage did he really string together anything like his championship winning form of 2008 and the match was over in no time.

Those two results have left the rest of the tournament wide open, with any of the six players capable of taking the title. We are guaranteed a brand new finalist and should Gary Robson come through from the bottom half of the draw we could make that two new boys in the showpiece come Sunday.

Robson, currently [9.2] for the title, will attract a fair amount of support given his newfound form using a new set of darts with improved grip on the barrel. But he faces a tough match against Martin Adams to play on Friday night and whilst Adams is yet to totally reproduce the standard that brought him the World Masters title last month, he is getting better by the match. I take Adams - [5.0] to win the championship - to take the match by five sets to three at [5.5]. Robson might start the match better but maintaining his consistency will be his big problem.

Friday's other quarterfinal sees a repeat of the 2001 final, as John Walton takes on the new, improved but hardly whiter than white Ted 'The Count' Hankey. Hankey has impressed me this week. Gone are the antics of previous years where Ted beat himself up before his opponent could get to him. In 2009 he's been as quiet and as calm as a monk on retreat. I take him to win comfortably tonight by five sets to two at [6.6].

So that brings us on to the semi-finals and if it is to be Hankey against Adams we're in for a treat. These two have met twice before at the Lakeside, both at the quarter-final stage and on both occasions Martin Adams has come out on top. I'd expect a similar outcome this year but should 'The Wolfie' clash with 'The Count' it could be an epic.

As should the semi final between Darryl Fitton and Tony O Shea, two Stockport boys, two best buddies and two big men with a big game to match. Given the fact that they are such good mates this should be a semi final played not just with the best of order, but also with no pressure on them either. Trust me when I say that neither would begrudge the other a victory and both would be equally as pleased to see their mate win the title, as they would be if they were to triumph themselves.

Tony O Shea is available with Betfair at [2.1] and Fitton can be backed at [1.8]. It'll be close and with the pressure off both players to a certain extent, the standard should be high. I've got a sneaking feeling, as I have done since the start, that Tony O Shea will make it through to his first Lakeside final and I go for him to win six sets to four at [7.2]. Both have let themselves down in their previous semi-final appearances here, but not tomorrow - I'm expecting a classic. O Shea is best priced at [5.0] to win the title for the first time and given that he was [40.0] when I put him on my shortlist at the start of the tournament, he's given me a great run for my money already.