“ The break has been great for me and I ’ m raring to go here , as I showed against Kevin ”
Connie Finnan and Colin Osborne both made it safely through with victories over Gino Vos and Mark Dudbridge respectively and they were joined in the second round by a resurgent Kirk Shepherd , the former World Championship Finalist ended the challenge of the out of form Vincent van der Voort .
Steve Farmer became the next PDC regular to exit as he fell victim to Gaz Cousins , with Cousins being joined in round two by Michael Burgoine , the qualifier producing a fine display to secure a 5-0 victory over Daz Twist .
In a quality encounter Adrian Gray edged out Steve Brown in a deciding leg , with qualifier Gary Stone defeating Maik Langendorf by the same scoreline .
Ted Hankey marked his return to televised action after suffering a small stroke during the Grand Slam of Darts last year with a 5-3 victory over Germany ’ s Bernd Roith .
There were also first round wins for Prakash Jiwa , Jason Wilson , Dave Place , Jake Pennington ( the youngster producing a fine display to edge out Tony West ), Andy Parsons , Stephen Mead , Keegan Brown , Michael Bushby , Johnny Haines , Scott Marsh , Matthew Dennant , Matt Padgett , Dean Stewart and Scott Robertson .
Round 2
Photo : Mike Glover / UK Darts
For the first time in the history of the tournament Phil Taylor was one of the group of players who entered the tournament in the second round . Of course fans , players and the media were making the most of it , but in typical fashion Taylor stepped onto the main stage and promptly produced a performance that saw him average 102 on his way to a 5-1 win over Kevin Dowling .
“ The break has been great for me and I ’ m raring to go here , as I showed against Kevin ,” said Taylor . “ It was nervewracking playing on the opening night amongst so many players , so I ’ m delighted to have got through it .”
“ It ’ s a longer format in the third round so I can relax a bit more , and I ’ m looking forward to the rest of the weekend now .”
James Wade too ensured that a poor qualifying campaign did not adversely affect his tournament as he produced his second 5-0 win of the night , this time over Wayne Jones .
Picture courtesy of PDC / Lawrence Lustig .
Ted Hankey returned to main stage action and recorded a solid 5-1 victory over Dave Weston .
“ It was good to be back on stage and hopefully I can keep moving forward now ,” said Hankey
“ It ’ s been a frightening time and I ’ ve changed a lot of things in the last six months , but I ’ m
“ The break has been great for me and I ’ m raring to go here , as I showed against Kevin ”
Phil Taylor