Mark Walsh crashed out to Raymond Van Barneveld in the second round of the PartyPoker.net European Championship.
The Abbots Langley ace could count himself lucky to have even been in the second round in Dűsseldorf, Germany after a 6-5 deciding-leg victory over last year's runner-up Wayne Jones.
Jones missed three darts at double 16 for the match at 5-4, which enabled Walsh to level the tie before hitting double top for a 14-darter to take the deciding leg.
Walsh was 3-1 up against Van Barneveld before the Dutchman took control and stormed to victory. The world number 13 had a break of throw in the very first leg and then held his darts to take a two leg lead over 'Barney'.
'Special Brew' was looking good until the sixth leg, losing his throw after missing tops for a 110 checkout. That miss was vital because world number six, Van Barneveld, went on to win five legs in a row to take a 7-3 lead, including back-to-back 121 checkouts.
Despite the Dutchman looking like he was going to pull away, Walsh got himself back into the match and was playing good darts to bring it back to 7-5. The comeback was still on in leg 13 but Walsh missed the bullseye and Van Barneveld took an 8-5 lead before comfortably seeing the match out to a 10-5 victory thanks to a 161 checkout.
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