Matthew Dennant off the mark in the PDC
Bloxwich's Matthew Dennant is off the mark on the PDC Pro Tour after recording his first wins in the Players Championship over the weekend.
The 24-year-old thrower earned £1,000 in prize money for a third round run on a busy weekend of darts at the Barnsley Metrodome, writes Craig Birch.
He earned a two-year Pro Tour card at Qualifying School in January and has risen to joint 134th on the Order of Merit and 132nd in the Pro Tour rankings.
He first toed the oche in Friday's first tournaments, where more woe was to betide him as he won just a leg in a 6-1 loss to former BDO regular James Wilson.
Wolverhampton's Wayne Jones was also involved and fell at the first hurdle, losing by the same score-line to 2014 Lakeside runner-up Alan Norris.
Dennant's best work came in Saturday's second competition, where two 6-3 successes broke his duck. First he beat Johnny Haines, then Andrew Gilding.
The luck of the draw then paired him with world No 1 Michael van Gerwen, who prevailed 6-2 and reached the final, after winning the title on Friday.
Jones reached the second round, picking up £500 in the process, after a 6-3 victory over Michael Smith. He then lost to Max Hopp by the same verdict.
Both went out in the first round of Sunday's third and final event. Dennant went down 6-3 to Keegan Brown, while Jones exited 6-4 to Darren Webster.
