Battling Wayne Jones goes down fighting
Wolverhampton's Wayne Jones lamented the three darts that saw him tumble out of the PDC World Championship at the first hurdle.
It came after an entertaining see-saw battle with Dean Winstanley at the Alexandra Palace in London this afternoon,
It was easily the most entertaining contest of the competition so far, but more double trouble once saw him suffer on the big stage at the Ally Pally, live on Sky Sports.
It came after a never-say-die performance that had seen Jones rebound from a set down to lead 2-1, before Winstanley fought back to claim his place in the second round.
A full set at double eight was all Jones had left to turn the tide in the very last leg and they all went astray, which he believes has been vindictive of 2014.
Jones said: "It just seems that everything that could go wrong does go wrong, at the moment. Luck never seems to go my way.
"I was happy with my performance, really, averaging 95 plus and yet that's only good enough just to tread water in the first round,
"The standard is so high, only the strongest will survive. I feel positive, though, so I will go into the New Year preparing for another crack."
'The Wanderer' could only watch early on as his opponent took out 136 and 76 in the opening two legs, finishing the first set without reply.
Back came Jones with two legs on the spin, holding off another 136 out=shot from Winstanley to level in the second set.
That was the impetus for him to surge ahead in the third set, a 12-dart leg going his way after both hit 180s along the way.
Winstanley hit another maximum in the next leg but to no avail, as Jones took out 68 to stick one foot into the second round.
But that was there the worm started to turn as gritty Winstanley broke his throw to start the fourth set, going on to level the scores.
That left the match on a knife edge going into a shoot out of a final set where Winstanley struck first blood, but it was a still nip and tuck finish as the proceedings reached their finale.
Winstanley nudged another leg ahead and made sure of victory, three missed darts at the aforementioned finish cost Jones dearly, as the result slipped away.
