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James Wade and Michael van Gerwen tightened their hold on McCoy’s Premier League play-off positions, while Simon Whitlock kept himself in the race on Thursday evening in Dublin.

Wade secured a 7-4 victory against Robert Thornton to move onto 16 points in second place behind van Gerwen, who increased his lead at the top to four points with two wins at the O2.

‘Mighty Mike’, who also claimed four points in Sheffield last week, upped his debut season tally to 20 with triumphs over Raymond van Barneveld and Adrian Lewis.

The Dutch star averaged over 106 in his 7-4 success against ‘Barney’, who shared a draw with Phil Taylor to boost his bid to stay in the top four.

Whitlock earned an impressive 7-3 victory over Andy Hamilton, who had lost out to Taylor in the opening match of the night.

van Gerwen, whose exploits included finishes of 152 and 158, admitted his delight at his Dublin double.

“This is the biggest crowd I’ve played in front of and it felt great,” said van Gerwen who also won a UK Open qualifier last Sunday.

“My confidence is high and I’m very happy with how I’ve done in this Premier League.

“I have great people behind me and I am enjoying everything at the moment.

“It is difficult playing two games but I’ve won them both times and now I just need to win once every week.”

The race for May’s finals night continues in Birmingham next Thursday.

By Chris Murphy

Image courtesy of Lawrence Lustig/PDC

Further match reports and reaction can be found on the players’ official websites:

www.jameswade.co.uk    www.simonwhiltock.tv    www.michaelvangerwen.tv    www.robertthornton.tv    www.barneyuk.tv

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