Rapid Ricky Evans turfed Queen of the Palace Fallon Sherrock off her throne but admitted: “I was so bad I think even my dad was booing me.”
Sherrock's 3-1 defeat at the Cazoo PDC World Championship closes the book, for another year, on the female challenge at Ally Pally following Beau Greaves and Lisa Ashton's defeats at the weekend. But it was a huge missed opportunity for the first lady of the oche.
Evans gasped: “I knew it was going to be tough – but I never expected it to be that tough. She was the better player in that game and I got away with it. People were cheering for her because it's a lady player but they need to respect how good she is at darts, but tonight she missed too many doubles and I took my chance.”
In the end, Sherrock paid a heavy price for her 22 missed darts at a checkout after the Kettering crowd-pleaser, who has never been beyond the third round, tried to get the crowd on his side by walking on in a Santa Claus hat, beard and glasses. Evans also ditched his normal walk-on party anthem, Village People's YMCA, for a seasonal singalong with Shakin' Stevens.
But when the music stopped and the darts started flying, Evans at first produced only a scattergun of nails like a bag of spanners falling out of the loft. Where Rapid Ricky was in too much of a rush, Sherrock – unhurried, steady and rock-solid - took the opening set 3-1, outgunning her No 42-ranked opponent both in scoring and on the outer ring.
There may have been controversy about the way Sherrock was awarded a place in the 96-player field here after the PDC retrospectively decided her victory at the inaugural Women's World Matchplay in Blackpool five months ago was worth an encore at Ally Pally. But let's get it straight, nobody has done more to advance the cause of women's darts than Sherrock.
Her historic wins against Ted Evetts and Mensur Suljovic on this stage in 2019 were pure marketing gold. When Evans, belatedly forsaking the party gimmicks, levelling the contest at 1-1, he cocked an ear playfully at his audience – and, predictably, they gave him the bird.
But if Sherrock wants to know where glory literally slipped through her fingers, she need look no further than the end of set three. After squandering four darts to go 2-1 up, somehow she then managed to bust five. Evans couldn't believe his luck and stepped in to go ahead. Then Sherrock went 2-0 up in the fourth, only for her heavy scoring to desert her, and when Evans took out 107 to book a second round tie with Joe Cullen on Friday night, it was another chance missed for girl power.
Sherrock, 28, said: “It was a stronger performance than I have produced all year, so I can't moan about it. Every year I come back here I've played at a decent level – I'm just disappointed with the loss, but I'll come back stronger. Ricky's walk-on was very funny and seeing him dressed up as Santa made it a fun atmosphere to play in.”
