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It is the first time the 23-year-old has reached the quarter-finals of a TV ‘Major’ but for Painter – his Blackpool jinx continues. This was his 6th appearance at the World Matchplay and he is still to get past the 2nd Round.

In the end, it was a convincing victory by 13 legs to 9. Wade averaged 92, hit five 180s and had an impressive 57 per cent check-out rate…..but the match wasn’t without a touch of controversy.

In the 12th leg, Painter just missed the bull for a brilliant 170 finish, then Wade stepped up needing 80 to win the leg with double double top. Painter looked unimpressed but the youngster explained. “People on the darts circuit know that needing 80 with three darts in my hand, I will always go for double double top. I always have and I always will. He may have taken offence but no offence was meant.”

There appeared to be words up on stage between the pair but Wade was keen to play the incident down. “There was a bit of tension up there but Kevin is a great player and has achieved a lot in his career. He’s done it, while I am still to do it. It is a job well done and I move on to the next one.”

Wade was thrilled with his performance. “It is a big win for me and it has been long overdue. I am not being big-headed but I have under-achieved in the last year. Giving up my job to concentrate 100 per cent on the darts was a good move and I am looking forward to the rest of the week.”

That dramatic 12th leg put Wade 8-4 in front and there was no coming back for Painter, who will be bitterly disappointed with the way he played and an end average of just 84.
Wade narrowly missed a 157 to win the match in style. He won’t mind though, because double ten was enough to take him through to a quarter-final against Chris Mason.

‘Mace The Ace’ was far from his best but that was still good enough to take him past the man who beat Colin Lloyd – Steve Maish. Mason’s finishing won the day in a scrappy affair.

Roland Scholten reached the quarter-finals in Blackpool for the first time. He was impressive against Andy Jenkins. The knock-out blow for ‘Rocky’ came when Scholten hit a brilliant 140 to stretch the lead to 9-6 and he breezed through to the last eight.

He will now take on ‘The Rocket’ after Ronnie Baxter stumbled past Londoner Mark Walsh 13 legs to 9. Baxter has never won a major darts title….will this be his week? He will have to improve his finishing. Baxter missed 18 darts for that illusive winning leg before eventually crossing the finishing line. He should have won 13-3! Amazingly, Walsh won six legs on the trot before eventually succumbing.

Unicorn star-man Phil Taylor will clash with old adversary Dennis Priestley in the quarter-finals. It will be a repeat of last year’s epic 2nd round match at Blackpool, when Taylor edged a thriller 15-13.

Priestley reached the quarter-finals for the first time since 1999 – beating Alex Roy comfortably by 13 legs to 8.

Wayne Mardle put his army of fans through the mill, before seeing off Lionel Sams 13-10. ‘Hawaii 501’ looked to be coasting when he was 9-3 in front. Sams then won five consecutive legs….but a terrific 136 finish restored Mardle’s confidence and he closed the match out to set up a quarter-final with Andrew Hamilton.

Wednesday’s 2nd Round results:

Dennis Priestley 13-8 Alex Roy
Wayne Mardle 13-10 Lionel Sams
Kevin Painter 9-13 James Wade
Andy Jenkins 8-13 Roland Scholten
Steve Maish 7-13 Chris Mason
Ronnie Baxter 13-9 Mark Walsh

Quarter-Finals Thursday (best of 31 legs) 1pm:

James Wade v Chris Mason
Roland Scholten v Ronnie Baxter

7pm:

Andrew Hamilton v Wayne Mardle
Phil Taylor v Dennis Priestley

Coming up on Thursday – here on the Unicorn website – more comment and opinion from Stuart Pyke in the very latest PYKE SPEAK UniBlog.

Sid Waddell’s next Blackpool Diary piece will be posted on Friday.

BY STUART PYKE