Mark Dudbridge's World Darts Matchplay dreams ended last night when Phil Taylor clinched his fifth-consecutive title with an 18-8 win at Blackpool's Winter Gardens.
'The Power', who has also captured the World Championship 11 times, was winning his 25th successive match in this tournament, his last defeat being a semi-final reverse to Peter Manley in 1999.
Although Dudbridge was a 100-1 outsider at the start of the event and 5-1 to turn over Taylor in the final his performance was disappointing considering the form he had shown and the men he had overcome previously.
The 31-year-old from Bristol, a complete unknown before capturing the World Masters in November 2002, had impressed greatly with the quality of his victories over Wayne Mardle, Alan Warriner, Manley and Ronnie Baxter. But he was unable to sustain the momentum against the finest darts player that has ever lived and who was included in a poll of the 12 greatest sportsmen of all time in a national newspaper this week.
Unusually, Taylor was booed when he entered the arena, perhaps by those who had been charmed by Dudbridge's youthful exuberance or have simply grown tired of the 43-year-old's continual success.
However, in many ways this competition has served to prove that Taylor is now re-established as the game's dominant force following a relatively barren 18 months by his standards in which his killer instinct had waned. It was evident in no uncertain terms this time even though Dudbridge, nicknamed 'Flash', made a bright start and hit a maximum 180 on only his second turn at the oche in his first-ever match against Taylor.
But at 2-2, after Dudbridge had missed a bullseye on a 161 finish to win a leg against the darts, Taylor responded with a break of his own. Dudbridge hung in there until losing his throw again to trail 9-6 as Taylor strung together nine consecutive legs to put the outcome beyond doubt.
A modicum of respectability was added to the scoreline as Dudbridge, who will return to work at a building site on Tuesday, finally stopped the rot but a double 15 secured Taylor's triumph.
Filed by Johnny Proby
