Jamie Hughes goes out of the BDO worlds
Tipton's Jamie Hughes bowed out of his maiden run in the BDO World Championship in the second round as he ran out of steam towards the finish.
The 28-year-old came off second best by the odd leg in five for each of the first two sets, but battled back to halve the deficit,
Class darts from the seventh seed Glen Durrant then saw him take command and march to victory at Lakeside last night, under the best-of-seven format.
Hughes opened by pushing Durrant, his best mate on the BDO tour, to a deciding leg twice which against him 3-2 in each, but the second set proved to be the last that went the distance.
'Dozza' moved on to hit two 180s and take out 62 to go 1-0 up in set three, but Hughes went for his favourite bed of tops to etch out 80 and level.
The Black Country darter then made Durrant pay for a missed double for the first time, his opponent's four going awry and allowing him to step in on tops.
Breaking his throw, Hughes roared into a 180 of his own and then halved the sets deficit, taking out double 16 for 41 as he got off the mark.
A spectacular 170 set up another double 16 to seize the initiative at the start of the fourth set, but Durrant replied with a maximum and then a first dart at the same double bed to level.
Hughes was in front come the next leg but a missed final dart at double 10 for 128 spurred Durrant into action, taking out two successive double 16s to go 3-1 up.
A set away from victory, the Teeside thrower sniffed the finish and took out the bull for 92 next, Hughes then making a mess of 102 to allow Durrant to creep in on double four.
The Middlesbrough man started a deciding leg with another 180, Hughes kicked in the teeth at the finale as Durrant landed tops with his second dart to settle proceedings. Both averaged well into the 90s.
