Waites pleased with narrow success

The 37-year-old Pennine Housing working and former Sowerby Bridge resident beat 21-year-old debutant Sam Hewson 3-2 at Lakeside last night.

It was his first win at the venue since he beat Tony O’Shea 7-1 in the 2013 final, Waites having crashed out 3-0 to Alan Norris 12 months ago.

Waites, who had a low-key 2014 and is troubled by a shoulder injury, thought he had played well.

“I’m quite happy with that and if I can do that for the next few rounds, you never know,” he said.

Sixth seed Waites lost the first set to his young Lincolnshire opponent but won the next two and missed a bull for the match.

Hewson took the match to a decider and there continued to be little between the pair.

However, Waites’ experience told and he clinched victory with two magnificent final legs of 13 and 15 darts.

Waites is the 15-2 fourth favourite for the title with Martin Adams and Alan Norris 5-1 joint favourites.