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Not for the first time in 2006, Lloyd fell at the first hurdle as his “annus horribilis” gets worse. The reigning champion was distraught at the end - his prized trophy slipping out of his hands in sweltering heat at The Winter Gardens.

Maish gave us the performance of his life to sink ‘Jaws’….Unicorn’s World No.1 beaten 10-6 and really he only has himself to blame after hitting only 6 doubles from 24 attempts.

This result will affect Lloyd – that’s for sure – because he was in confident mood coming into the tournament. He was quickly 3-0 down, hauled it back to 3-3, before Maish won five on the trot. Lloyd produced his best darts to haul it back to 8-6….but more missed doubles. He blew four more darts to make it 8-7 and Maish piled on the misery. The comeback was over and so was Lloyd’s reign as World Matchplay champion.

Maish’s reward is a 2nd round clash against ‘Mace The Ace’ Chris Mason.

You could hear the shouts of triumph and relief from Kevin Painter, after he overcame an attack of the nerves and a brilliant comeback from Welshman Barrie Bates to scrape through to the 2nd Round of the World Matchplay Championships.

Painter collapsed on the stage and performed a dance of darting delight, after winning a thriller 10-8….but boy, did he make it hard for himself. From 2-3 down, ‘The Artist’ remarkably won six legs on the spin to take him to the verge of victory. He was 8-3, then 9-4 in front and just missed double 18 on a 116 finish to win the match 10-4.

The doubts then set in as Bates won a leg, then another and another, as he hauled it back to 8-9. It was Matchplay darts at its very best. Bates had a chance to take the game into overtime but just missed a 160 check-out and Painter finally hit double 18 to snatch it!

He went through a rollercoaster range of emotions. “I made the big mistake of thinking the game was won when I was 9-4 up,” he admitted. “I was getting hotter and hotter and my hands were sweating. It was just sheer relief to win.”

Painter has never got past the 2nd round in Blackpool. Hopefully, he has learnt a harsh lesson from this and can now enjoy a really good run this week. He so nearly threw it away but this win may just give him the impetus to succeed.

There were no problems for young Adrian Lewis, who was given a useful work out by Matt Clark – winning 10 legs to 6. He averaged 95 and hit five 180s – silencing a few boo-boys in the Blackpool crowd.

The big turning point came in the 5th leg, when Clark missed four darts to take it and Lewis stepped in. The 21-year-old from Stoke reeled off four consecutive legs to take control. He set up the victory with a 94 finish on the bull to make it 9-5 but made a mess of it in the 15th leg – going for a double 19, double top check-out…..Lewis though, completed the win with double six in the next.

He said: “I am fairly pleased with the way I played. I love this tournament and am determined to do better than last year, when I reached the quarter-finals.”

Unicorn star Peter Manley is on his way home after enduring a nightmare on the big stage at The Winter Gardens….semi-finalist last year, 1st round loser in 2006, after he was thrashed 10-2 by Stoke qualifier Andrew Hamilton.

Hamilton is set to break into the world’s top 32 after a series of impressive performances in major tournaments – remember he beat Raymond Van Barneveld to qualify for the World Matchplay – and Manley had no answer to the Stoke publican, who will now clash with Ade Lewis in the 2nd round.

From two legs apiece, Hamilton found another gear, while Manley lost his way. Hamilton then took eight consecutive legs to put Manley out of his misery. He averaged 95.5 to Manley’s 81 and outscored ‘One Dart’ throughout.

Manley had no complaints: “I just couldn’t find anything at all up there. I don’t know why but it just didn’t happen. For some reason it was a real struggle – but fair play to Andy who was much better than me on the day.”

The big highlight of day three is the all-Unicorn blockbuster in the 2nd round between Phil Taylor and John Part…..the Canadian of course, beat Taylor in the quarter-finals here 12 months ago….it should be another thriller.

Unicorn contender James Wade goes in search of his first big win in a ‘Major’ against Denis Ovens. He knows victory will set up a 2nd round clash against Kevin Painter.

1st round results from day two:

Terry Jenkins 7-10 Lionel Sams
Adrian Lewis 10-6 Matt Clark
Peter Manley 2-10 Andrew Hamilton
Chris Mason 10-6 Steve Beaton
Kevin Painter 10-8 Barrie Bates

Tuesday’s order of play:

1st round (1pm)

Denis Ovens v James Wade
Andy Jenkins v Alan Warriner
Roland Scholten v Andy Smith
Mark Walsh v Dave Askew

7pm:

Ronnie Baxter v Dennis Smith

2nd round (best of 25 legs)

Andy Hamilton v Adrian Lewis
Phil Taylor v John Part

As always, there will be first news here on the Unicorn website and watch out for more on Tuesday in Sid’s Diary and Stuart Pyke’s new column PYKE SPEAK – direct from the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. Sid will be bringing you his off-beat World Matchplay Diary, in his own unique style…..stay in touch with UNICORN.

BY STUART PYKE