Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

John Henderson dreaming of the perfect leg to thrill AECC crowd

Huntly's John Henderson.
Huntly's John Henderson.

Huntly’s John Henderson is dreaming of becoming the latest player to hit a nine-darter at the Premier League Darts in Aberdeen tonight.

There have been eight nine-dart finishes since the inception of the competition, which is played across 16 venues in Europe, in 2005.

Aberdeen has been the venue for three of those perfect legs with Raymond van Barneveld, Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis all recording nine darters in the Granite City.

Henderson is one of nine ‘contenders’ who have been chosen to replace the injured Gary Anderson across the opening nine league nights.

The Highlander will take on world champion Michael van Gerwen at the AECC and he would love to be the next player to notch a perfect nine in Aberdeen.

He said: “Somebody mentioned to me that there have been more nine-darters in Aberdeen than at any of the other Premier League venues.

“I would love to add another.  That would be the dream.

“I think the place would go mad if I did that.

“It certainly would be special.

“I have been to watch the Premier League in Aberdeen a few times and they are always great nights.

“I’m delighted to have this opportunity to be part of it and I’m just going to enjoy myself.

“There is no pressure on me as everyone will expect Michael to win as he is the world number one.

“But I have beaten him before and I will be doing my best to give him a game.”

Henderson feels his game is in good shape as he heads into his Premier League showdown with world number one van Gerwen, who suffered his first defeat of the competition against James Wade last week.

He said: “I have started off great this year.

“In my first six tournaments and reached four quarter-finals and two second rounds.

“The draw didn’t go my way at the UK Open in the weekend (when Henderson was beaten 10-5 by Michael Smith in the fourth round).

“Michael is one of the best in the world when he is on his game.

“I played OK and I was disappointed to lose but my confidence is high.

“Hopefully I can give Michael a game.”

Henderson, the world number 21, would love to be one of the 10 players chosen to play on the Premier League Darts in the future and hopes a taste of the action tonight can prove the catalyst for a push to the next level.

He added: “I have spoken to some of the players who have played in the Premier League and they have said it can be tiring doing the full 16 weeks.

“You travel on the Wednesday, play on the Thursday and then travel on the Friday to play on the pro tour on Saturday and Sunday and it is easy to see how that could take its toll.

“But it is something every player wants to a shot of and I’m no different.

“This will also be a great chance for me gain stage experience that will help me in other tournaments.

“I’m going to take that on board.

“I have never played in front of so many people before.

“The Ally Pally and Dublin are noisy venues but I think this will be a different level.

“It will be a new experience but I would love to be there on merit in a couple of years’ time.”