Nail biting Victory sets Stevenson up to meet Webster

SIMON Stevenson put his supporters through a nail-biting deciding leg before winning 6-5 this afternoon and setting himself up against Darren Webster in round four of the Ladbrokes UK Open tonight and a guaranteed 2,000 order of merit points.

His opponent this afternoon was Kevin Doets who earlier had defeated the 2018 UK Open semi-finalist Dave Pallett but found Plymouth's The Mirror Man a tougher nut to crack.

Simon went 2-0 up in 13 and 18 and had a dart at the bull for a win in 12, only for the Dutchman to pull one back in 15.

Stevenson then restored his two-leg advantage when taking the fourth leg in 14 before a pulsating fifth leg.

The Mirror Man left himself 130 after just nine darts only for Doets to check out in 12, aided by his first maximum.

Both players traded 180s in leg six, but it went to Simon in 17 to lead 4-2 only to be pegged back to 4-3 when the Dutchman hit his third maximum in as many legs before winning in 18.

But a 15-darter put Simon 5-3 up and only one leg away from victory.

Two 18-darters against him brought the players level at 5-5 but the darts were with Doets in the decisive leg. After 12 darts the 23-year-old left himself 50 and after 12 darts Stevenson required 40.

Doets went up to throw for the match but missed, while Stevenson stepped up and hit double 20 with his first dart for a win in 13 and a place in round four, finishing with a 99.00 average.

Simon has met the 51-year-old Webster on only two previous occasions, losing both. Hopefully tonight it will be third time lucky in the Plymothian’s favour.