Archibald Shows He's Paddy Cool

Paddy Archibald stole the headlines on an excellent night of action in the Champion of Champions 2022 as he powered through to the Last 16 stage at The Fawn.

Archibald made light work of what looked like an extremely difficult task whilst putting a 15 dart leg on the board in a 3-1 win against five time winner Simon Stevenson to book a place in the final 32.

In the competition's third round so far, Archibald (32.20) was drawn against Devon's Mark Shears and he set his stall out with back to back 15 dart legs in the first two of the match; one of which won with a 118 checkout.

Shears had earlier put out Scott Wapshott 3-1 with the help of a 15 darter of his own, pulled a leg back in 18 to make it 2-1.

That only seemed to spark a further onslaught from Archibald who hit two maximums on his way to a 13 darter to book his place at final's night.

At the same venue, reigning two time champion John Mann took out another of the favourites, Super League Players Champion Mark Gilbery, 3-1.

Gilbery had dispatched Damian Chalmers 3-0 in his first outing of the night to setup the tough looking tie with Mann.

In the heavyweight tie, Mann checked legs in 16 and 15 whilst also adding a maximum and a checkout of 120 with Gilbery licking his wounds after missing crucial darts to take a 2-1 lead.

Alec Turner and Chrissie Kinnaird played out an entertaining match in the last 64 stage with Kinnaird's 17 darter usurped by a leg in 16 from Turner that helped him to a 3-1 win.

Turner's title tilt was ended by Paul Hendy who made it through to the last 16 with wins of 3-0 and 3-1 whilst Dan Jewell added his name to the sixteen players left in the draw with a 3-1 success over Nathan Langdon.

There was no fewer than five 180s in the ten ties played at the King Billy as Danny Bull hit the first in a 3-2 win over Devon teammate Lee Hellings.

Bull would exit the competition at the last 32 stage as Simon Washington ploughed in a maximum in his 3-1 win over the Indian player.

Paul Gavican faced a maximum from each of his opponents in two wins that guided him to final's night for the very first time.

Gavican dispatched 2021 runner up Danny Allen 3-2 with a 116 checkout from Gavican proving critical to that success.

Gavican then returned to put out 2018 champion Neil White 3-1 in what was an accomplished evening's work against two of the favourites for this year's trophy lift.

Two of Plymouth's finest young talents faced off in the last 32 stage after Jaden Whitting defeated Nick Miller 3-1 to setup a meeting with Harry Bull who took out Steve Harris by the same score line.

Bull got the better of his slightly younger opponent with a 3-1 win accented by a 105 checkout and a 180 from the Monday Premier League Individual Champion, who returns to the last 16 for the second time.

In a repeat of the 2021 quarter final, Andy Bates defeated Paul Palmer by the same 3-1 score line as he did last year with the help of a checkout of 120.

Bates then defeated Wayne Oddie 3-0 to give himself another shot at the one title that has proven so elusive in his illustrious career to date.

The undoubted star of the show at the Indian was Devon's Jodie Hawton who became the first lady in the competition's history to book her place at final's night with a 3-1 win over Danny Perryman.

Perryman set up the last 32 tie with the three time ladies champion thanks to a 3-1 win over Kevin Evans in his first matchup of the evening.

And despite hitting a 96 checkout in the match, Perryman could not curtail an in form Hawton who impeccably finished legs with 80 and 91 out shots, and also added the only maximum hit at the venue.

Dave Matthews joined his Devon teammate in the hat for the last 16 with two 3-0 wins over Darren Smith and Jacob Bentham respectively.

Andrew Cook took out 2016 runner up Glenn Halford 3-1 before edging past Scott Lawrey 3-2 to also give himself a shot at glory.

Fred Goldsmith was the final competitor at the Stoke venue to make it through with 3-0 and 3-1 wins over Dave Young and Mark Hatherley respectively.

Hatherley might've thought his luck was in after ending the title hopes of the talented 2019 runner up Andrew Nation in the last 64 by a whitewash 3-0 score.

Ian Heggie was the first man to navigate his way through to the last 16 at the Hyde Park with successes of 3-1 and 3-2 over Mark Hopkins and Lee Dennis.

Devon Youth player Liam Taylor made it to a respectable last 32 stage in his first attempt at the competition with a 3-0 win over Steve Duke.

Quinton Taylor then ended his son's hopes of a final's night appearance with a 3-0 win that was aided along by a leg in 18.

Tony Tasker ended the hopes of Dave Reed with the help of a 105 three dart combination out shot to setup an all Victory last 32 tie with Darren Collis.

Collis came through 3-1 against Russ Paxton-Denny before getting the better of his teammate Tasker by the same score line to book his place in the last 16 at his home venue.

Billy Evans (29.47) looked in the type of form that could see him contend for the title as he chalked up a pair of 16 dart legs in a 3-0 last 32 win over James Duke.

The final round of the famous, old competition will be played down to a winner at Victory Inn on Sunday, 27th November with the first of fifteen matches scheduled to start at 7pm.

The charity event has raised over £1300 for Mind who specialise in mental health support and care, with more raffles and auctions due to take place on final's evening to boost the total for a brilliant cause.