Darts duo aiming for Lakeside success

Last year at the same second round stage 'Wolfie' defeated Gurney 4-2, but after producing a tremendous display on Monday evening to see off 14th seed Scott Mitchell, the Waterside man is sure to go into this evening's encounter full of confidence.

"I think this year I'm throwing a lot better, I'm more confident on the stage, last year I was very nervous and I was missing a lot of singles and treble 19's, but I have worked on my game for the last month and half on a few fine details, so I'm looking forward to it," he said.

"As I said this year I have threw maybe twice as better as I did last year, but I think this year I was probably playing a better opponent, there aren't many people who have comeback from 2-0 down in their first time playing at the Lakeside, so all credit to Scott for coming back, but I'm thrilled to win."

Another man from Londonderry looking to reach the quarter-final stage is Martin McCloskey; he shocked 11th seed Steve West when he too had a 3-2 victory on Monday evening.

The Shantallow man, who is now living in Letterkenny faces Garry Thompson, the man who Gurney defeated in the first round at last year's competition at Frimley Green.

Gurney showed some tremendous darts on Monday evening when he raced into a 2-0 lead, but Mitchell fought back to level at 2-2 before taking a two-leg lead in the deciding set.

However credit to Gurney who won four consecutive legs to secure an emotional victory.

McCloskey, who is making his debut at the Lakeside, had to come from behind to overcome West; hitting 100 and 135 scores. McCloskey was first to the double in the deciding leg, but missed three double 20s for the match, then the Englishman missed chances on double two and double one, before the much relieved McCloskey slammed home the winning double tops.

Gurney's encounter against Adams will be shown live on BBC-2 and gets underway at 6.45pm, while McCloskey's clash with Thompson will be on the BBC's interactive service from 9.15pm.