Coventry’s Steve Beaton described the moment when he busted on 122 that cost him his chance to take James Wade into a seventh set decider but crucially the match in this 2013 Ladbrokes PDC World Championships second round encounter at Alexandra Palace, London, writes Ziad Chaudry.
The Machine’ lightening was struck again on the 48-year-old as Wade repeated his second round victory from five years ago, this time by 4 legs to 2.
“I thought the treble ten is in but certainly it was not,” said the 1996 BDO World Champion. “Then you got to hit a big single, you stop then ten seconds later Wade was ahead, that’s the way it went.
“It was spits and sparse, we played well but I actually thought I did enough to get in it but to do that at the end it was just one of those things.
“There was no other way I could do it; there was no easy way out, you got to hit a single.
“I think me and Wade proved today how nerves can play a part in this, that’s the game.
“It wasn’t a brilliant game all the way through and I’m sure James will say the same thing, we were both sort of up-and-down but I’ve been practising and been playing brilliant.
Beaton who is world ranked 29 in PDC standings assessed his 2012 season: “I’m practising and playing brilliantly but I now have to take that to the stage.
“I don’t know why it’s so different when I go up there. I don’t if the players I’m playing against or it’s something else, I really don’t know.
“At home the other night I was throwing 10 to 12 180’s in 10-15 minutes but here I couldn’t find one.
“If I can do that at home then there’s no reason I can’t do it here.