Needles makes his point in the UoB Premier League

It is no a secret within the UoB Premier League that Matt 'Needles' Brindley is one of the most improved players in the competition this year. Like all players, Matt has his off days - but what makes him a dangerous competitor is that the standard of his darts on the better days are getting better and better as the season reaches its climax.

With two wins out of two, this round of Wood-Shot Wednesday easily belonged to Matt, who started off the day with a convincing 3-1 win against Adam 'A-Train' James. After racing into a 3-0 lead, A-Train pinched the final leg as both players missed darts at a double.

In his second match Needles went up against an inform Matt 'Tank' Waters, playing for a place in the top four. Tank had the better of the opening leg but failed to leave himself on decent double. As soon as Needles lined up double 20, the man from Hassockes made Tank pay and edged into an early lead. Confidence continued to grow for Needles as he increased his scoring and applied further pressure on his opponent, closing out the next leg in 29 darts with double 6.

Tank took the third to keep any hopes of a draw alive but then failed to get off to a good start in the fourth. With Needles was left on 28, Tank stepped up to the oche looking at shanghai for a share of the points and also the chance to knock Ace off the top of the Whitlock award. The width of the wire was all that separated Tank from a splendid checkout and a crucial point in the context of his league campaign. After seeing Tank come so close to nailing the 120 finish, Needles seemed relaxed and completely in control of the situation as he switched casually from looking at double 14, to hitting 8 and double 10 in two darts. There are certain areas on the board that you just fancy Needles when he's aiming at doubles; 20, 10 or 6 being the main ones. Unfortunately for Tank these were the areas that Needles struck heavily in the match.

Tank was left bitterly disappointed with the result as he is now reliant on other results to get into the top four. Needles became the third player in the UoB Premier League to be accompanied to a match with a WAG, a trend set early on by the Chelsea's Prodigal Son, Jack Chambers. Needles claims his biggest scalp of the season and looks forward to finishing his season on a high against an unbeaten Karl.