Kettering's Ricky has his hopes ended at the Worlds

Kettering's Ricky Evans in action during his second round defeat to Daryl Gurney. Picture courtesy of Lawrence Lustig/PDC

Ricky Evans’ William Hill PDC World Championship hopes were ended after he was beaten 3-1 by Daryl Gurney in the second round at the Alexandra Palace in London.

The Kettering darts star had opened his campaign at the ‘Ally Pally’ with a 3-0 success over Nitin Kumar on Wednesday evening to set up the clash with Gurney yesterday (Thursday) afternoon.

‘Rapid’ played his part in an entertaining encounter and certainly left his mark on the crowd but Gurney turned in a solid display.

A 146 checkout helped Evans take the first set but Gurney won the next three to seal victory but only after Evans missed four darts to take the match to a deciding set, including one at the end of a 147 checkout attempt.

“I always expect tough matches against Ricky and that’s exactly what I got,” said Gurney.

“He probably should've won that last set but I think I deserved to win the match overall.

“I’m glad to be through. He is a tough opponent who has beaten me at the European Championship before so it is a very good start for me.”