Power v Barney: The great home darts challenge

Old masters Taylor and Barney return for hi-tech rematch in aid of the NHS

PHIL TAYLOR will relight the fire of his rivalry with Raymond van Barneveld, claiming the Dutchman will never get over his farewell horror show.

The ‘Power’ and Barney will tomorrow make an encore in a unique challenge match from their own living rooms 350 miles apart to raise money for the NHS.

Taylor, who turns 60 in August, warmed up with a good deed for a man whose bike was stolen while he joined the fight to beat the deadly coronavirus.

The 16-times world champion was so appalled when he read about the theft in his local paper in the Potteries that he presented victim Spencer James with a replacement set of wheels.

Now Taylor has one last axle to grind with Barney, the former postman whose sudden-death win in the World Championship final 13 years ago still rankles with the greatest purveyor of arrows since William Tell.

They aim to raise thousands of pounds for health-service charities in an extraordinary match over the best of 13 legs.

The match will be streamed by sponsors Paddy Power, who will donate £1,000 to the NHS for every 180 maximum the pair hit.

And to give the occasion an authentic touch, socially-distant master of ceremonies John Mcdonald will even introduce the players for a walk-on from kitchen to living room.

Van Barneveld retired from professional darts last December vowing he would “hate myself forever” after his limp first-round defeat in the PDC World Championship. And Taylor admitted: “I felt gutted for him, but he put himself under too much pressure.

“He wanted to copy what I did a couple of years earlier and go out with a bang by reaching the final, and it was hard for him. Barney has never been a good loser. Going out like that would have killed him and he’ll never forget it.”

Taylor, the master of psychology on the oche in his pomp, will roll back the mind games one more time before he takes to the board at home in Stoke-on-trent while Barney takes aim in his living room in the Netherlands.

He laughed: “I shall be texting him tonight at 1am, saying: ‘Are you sleeping well, Barney?’

“I should never have lost that final in 2007. I’m sitting here now thinking about the money I threw away that I could have used now.

“I’d like to win, but this is for the NHS. It’s all about raising money.”