QUEEN OF THE PALACE Fallon Sherrock was abdicated last night as she rued missed doubles against a guy dressed up as SANTA CLAUS.
This time were was no repeat of her history-making 2019 heroics as Sherrock, 28, was defeated 3-1 by zany Ricky Evans – who came on stage wearing a Christmas comedy outfit – at the PDC World Darts Championship.
The former hairdresser missed 22 doubles across the four sets as she became the third and final woman to be booted out of the tournament.
In the third set, Sherrock was kicking herself that she missed FOUR set darts and then BUST on a score of five.
In the fourth set, Evans came from two legs down and then sealed the victory with a 107 checkout in the fifth leg.
Sherrock, 28, was unable to justify the backdated wildcard that was handed to her before the draw last month.
She said: “It was a stronger performance than what I have done all year, so I cannot moan about it. Obviously I’m disappointed not to win. I’ll come back stronger.
“At the end of the day, it’s stuff that I can take back and use as a learning curve. If I get there and quality for next year, I can work on that.
“Hopefully in years to come, these experiences will help me and make me a better player. There are some tweaks to work on in my game.
“The walk-on from Ricky was funny, seeing him come on as Santa.
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“Ricky will always have a funny attitude for a game, it made the situation very fun to play in.”
Evans, 32, is a madcap character and he changed his walk-on music from YMCA to Shakin’ Stevens’s version of ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’.
It was an inspired choice to get the crowd on their feet and prevented them from booing him constantly through the contest.
Not only that, he arrived wearing a red Santa hat, white beard and glasses – it was quite the comedic entrance.
The Kettering ace – who is nicknamed Rapid – will now play Joe Cullen in the final second-round match on the night before Christmas Eve.
Evans said: “I’m relieved. I got away with murder there.
“I knew it was going to be tough but I didn’t expect it to be that tough. She is so good.
“The thing is that people are cheering because it’s a lady playing but they have to respect how good she is at darts.
“She was the better player in that game, I got away with that. I’m so happy to win. I’m chuffed to bits. She is a great darts player.
“She missed too many doubles. I took my chance,
“I think the boos were from my dad. I think he was booing me because I was that bad.
“For the walk-on, I like to entertain, I like to have a little bit of fun. Once I got on the dartboard, I think I was too serious. I’m so happy to win.
“Joe Cullen is a proper payer, a proper nice guy as well. I have to do my job. If play well, I have a chance, if I don’t turn up, he will whitewash me.”
