'Gutted' Ricky Evans misses golden opportunity as he loses to Rob Owen in World Darts
Kettering's Ricky Evans missed a golden chance to reach the last 16 of the Paddy Power PDC World Darts Championship when he lost 4-2 to Welshman Rob Owen at Alexandra Palace in London on Sunday night.
'Rapid' looked to be on course for victory in his last 32 showdown as he started well and opened up a 2-1 lead.
Crucially though, Evans squandered Evans two darts for a 3-1 lead in sets, and that proved critical.
Owen certainly made the most of the let-off, as he won seven of the last nine legs to reel off three sets on the spin and claim the victory.
Evans will be frustrated to have failed to set up a last 16 date with Calln Rydz, as Owen was ranked 32 places below him in the PDC rankings prior to their meeting.
The Kettering ace still managed to put a positive spin on things as he posted on social media: "Naturally gutted not to get the win.
"But I have to take the positives from my run, and build on them for 2025 and beyond.
"The walk on wasn't too bad either... see you all next year."
Evans, had walked on to Shakin Stevens' Merry Christmas Everyone in the opening rounds, once again had Ally Pally rocking as he enterted the arena to Madonna's 1989 UK number one hit Like A Prayer.
But he failed to hit the heights with darts in hand as his three-dart average of 86.84 was well below Owen's 92.92.
Evans' checkout percentage of 42.9 per cent was better than his opponents' (39.5%), but he simply didn't give himself enough opportunities to make that superior finishing count.
The win saw Owen secure his PDC Tour card for 2025, and Owen write on X: "I'm so happy to have won that match and to have retained my tour card for definite.
"Fair play to Ricky, a great guy and player. It's been a wild ride these past few weeks, but I'm still going strong!"