Comeback king Jamie Hughes is through

Hughes salvaged a 4-1 deficit to win 5-4 in a winner-take-all shoot-out at a noisy Wolverhampton Civic Hall this evening, writes Craig Birch.

The first game of the schedule involved his rivals in Group G, with previous group leader James Wade losing 5-3 to Dave Chisnall but already through anyway.

That left Hughes and James Wilson to slug it out for the remaining place in the last 16 and events were transpiring against the Black Country thrower.

Hughes hit his first 180 with his second visit but lost the leg against the darts, double 16 for a useful 112 checkout breaking the deadlock for Wilson.

Hughes returned with the throw to land another maximum with the first darts of the second leg, but double 16 would prove a problematic bed to restore parity.

A miss left him double eight which went awry to land another single 16, busting the required total. Double 16 at the first attempt put Wilson 2-0 up.

Hughes tried to restore pressure with two 140s in leg three, with Wilson fluffing a solitary strike at double 15 for a 150 finish. 'Yozza' capitalised on tops for 68 to halve the advantage.

Wilson returned to the initiative with his first 180 in leg four, before Hughes experienced more problems on double 16. His first try sailed into singles, with doubles at eight and four missed.inte

Wilson left it to the last to extend his kudos in leg five, double eight missing and then dropping into the single, but he pulled it around with the third dart for double four.

Then began the Hughes fightback, tops replying before treble 16 left him two goes at double eight for 62, taken the second time around.

Another 180 flew in for a revitalised Hughes as he returned to tops to level the score, clinically dispatched with his first dart.

A last leg shootout ensued with the stakes high and he held his nerve to claim victory, double 16 for 108 grasping what looked like an unlikely turnaround.

Hughes racked up 91.16 to Wilson's 91 dead and took his chances when it mattered on the doubles, five out of 12 successful along with three 180s in total.

The 30-year-old thrower, invited into the competition through his ranking with rival company the BDO, returns to the Civic on Thursday night.

He will take on Chris Dobey, with play upgraded to a first-to-10 format. He's the first Black Country player to go past the group stages since Wayne Jones in 2010.