three darts for the title. Incredibly, they were
all missed meaning the Ipswich boy-wonder had
squandered six chances to seal the title. Eric made
no mistake with double six.
instead played safe by throwing a single 18 to leave
himself on 32.
The deficit had been halved and, crucially, the throw
was now with Bristow. He went on to take the 10th
in a 3-0 whitewash; the only set of the entire contest
to be settled in the minimum three legs.
That would prove to be a costly error. The boy
wonder stepped up to hit consecutive trebles (20
and 18) to leave himself a single dart to clinch
the championship. It would be lucky number 7 as
he found the double 12 bed to bring an astonishing