“I knew Raymond had changed and it messed my head up a bit at the
start of the game, but when it came to the crunch and the pressure
darts, it didn’t work for him.
“I’ve been very confident lately but James is a great player and I will
need to be somewhere close to a 100 average to beat him, finishing
well and outscoring him. We’ve had so many battles over the last four
or five years and I know what I’ve got to do to beat him.”
Wes Newton once again played out a close match as he was again
forced to come from behind to defeat a spirited Paul Nicholson.
The match took a long time to get going, with both players struggling,
but after Nicholson found himself in a position to win with a dart at
double one for the match it was Newton who provided the spark.
The Fleetwood-based thrower was left on 160 when Nicholson missed his
match dart but he was undaunted and managed to land the checkout,
bringing the crowd into the match in the process.
The match sparked into life and the pair traded legs as a tiebreaker
became the order of the day and as Nicholson became increasingly
frustrated with the crowd, despite his upturn in form, it was Newton
who sealed the victory to set up a match with Phil Taylor in the quarter
finals.
“It was unbelievable,” admitted Newton. “During the game I knew
that most legs I lost I had chances in, and fair play to Paul because he
took his chances.
“I always felt that I was scoring better than Paul and I just had to
forget the scoreline and concentrate on each leg, and if I took my
chances I could claw it back.
“At the minute I’m fighting, I’m battling and hanging in there. It’s no
secret that I’ve come into this in not the best of form, but I guess every
player goes through that - my confidence is
low at the
minute and
that showed in my
doubles
early on.
“Winning games breeds
confidence and that’s
what I need at the
minute. I’m so happy
with myself - the 160
finish, when Paul was
on a double, was do
or die and I did it, and
it’s possibly the best
shot of my career.
“It’s good for me - just
what I need. I’ve got to try
and put things right for Friday
“At the minute
I’m fighting, I’m
battling and
hanging in there”
Wes Newton