By Henry Deacon (@H_Deaconmedia)

Alfie Rutherford has extended his commitment to Havant and Waterlooville for a further two years.

Rutherford, who joined the Hawks from Bognor Regis Town in 2016 has extended his deal with the Football Club for the next two seasons. 

The 20-year-old was the clubs highest scorer last season, having netted 15 goals in The National League with many touting him to be the best young player in Non-League football. 

Commenting on the deal, he said: “I’m delighted to stay at the club. 

“I’ve been here for three years and I’m delighted to stay for another two.”

First team Manager Paul Doswell is also pleased to keep Rutherford at Westleigh Park.

He said: “It’s good news that Alfie Rutherford has been able to commit. 

“I’d like to thank his Uncle and his Dad for making that happen, so Alfie’s with us three morning a week next season. 

“I think it’s massive, almost like a new signing, because he did so well last year and is someone I really wanted to keep.”

Two time World Champion Gary Anderson will return to the Oche this weekend in an effort to retain his UK Open crown.

Anderson, who pulled out of the Premier League due to a back injury, has not played a competitive game since his 6-1 World Championship Semi-final defeat to Michael van Gerwen.

Anderson’s decision to defend his title came after the PDC announced the full field of players for the event which starts at Butlin’s in Mindhead on Friday Afternoon.

The news was also confirmed by his manufacturer Unicorn Darts who said: ” ‘The Flying Scotsman’ Gary Anderson will return to action and defend his Ladbrokes UK Open title at the Butlin’s Minehead Resort, this coming weekend.”

The tournament has gone through some pivotal changes this year with the field expanded from 128 players to 160 with all PDC Tour Card holders getting automatic invites instead of playing qualifiers.

As usual the likes of van Gerwen, Anderson and Cross will be joined by Riley’s amateurs who won through various events across the country.

Nine time Major champion James Wade is facing bullying claims following his second round win over Seigo Asada at the World Darts Championship.

Wade appeared to shout in the face of his opponent during his tiebreak 3-2 win over the Japanese thrower at Alexandra Palace on Wednesday Night.

In his post match interview, The Machine defended his actions, saying he wanted to “hurt” Asada.

Wade said: “I wanted to hurt him, I wanted to really hurt him in his face.

“It wasn’t a great game, but I wanted to hurt him and I wanted to progress.”

His comments upset five time World Championship semi finalist and TV pundit Wayne Mardle and accused Wade of bullying.

“It’s bullying. That was just nasty.

“Does he mean he wanted to punch him in his face? What does he mean? I am absolutely lost for words.”

Women’s World Darts Champion Lisa Ashton is relishing the challenge of facing some of the games best players at the PDC World Darts Championship this Christmas.

Ashton, who is one of two female players to take part at this years competition, is looking to cause damage at the sports showpiece event.

The PDC included two female players to the field as part of a tournament expansion to 96 players.

But Ashton is ensuring that she is not a gimmick for including female players into the tournament:

“I’m here to win and, if I play my best darts, I’ve got a genuine chance.

“This is the opportunity of a lifetime and I don’t want to let it pass me by. It’s the biggest tournament I’ve ever played in, a whole new level, the biggest night of my career – even bigger than the finals I’ve played at the Lakeside.”

The Lancashire Rose, who has won four of the last five Women’s World Championships, faces Jan Dekker in the first round of the competition at the Alexandra Palace tomorrow night and feels the draw has been kind to her:

“Jan is a good player, but, if you look at the other names in the hat, it could have been much worse. All the pressure will be on him and I’ve got to use that to my advantage.

“If I can get my scoring and pegging out together, I’ll be really chuffed and I’d hope to get through.”

Rob Cross shocked the World on New Year’s Day when he beat 16 times World Champion Phil Taylor 7-2 in the World Championship final.

12 months on and the landscape of the game has seemingly changed. Michael van Gerwen’s dominance at the top of the sport has seemingly whittled away, and the number of players in the winners enclosure during the years major events has risen.

Gary Anderson has lead the way in terms of winning some of the sports major events, having won the UK Open, World Matchplay, and Champions League amongst his other major victories this year.

He was joined by Daryl Gurney, Gerwyn Price, and James Wade in the winners enclosure in the big televised majors.

But what will be the key factors which will determine where the Sid Waddell trophy will go come the first day of 2019?

Top heavy top half:

If this years World Darts Champion is to prevail from the top half of the draw bracket then they would have had to have done it the hard way.

Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson top the draw as number 1 and number 4 seeds for the tournament and many pundits feel as if they look set to collide in the semi finals of this years competition.

However, delve deeper into the draw, the big names keep cropping up on the drawsheet.

Michael van Gerwen could potentially face a last 16 date against either Raymond van Barneveld or Adrian Lewis, with the pair drawing each other in the last 32 should they progress though their respective openers.

Simon Whitlock, James Wade and Jelle Klaasen find themselves also in the same quarter of the draw, with the winner of that possibly playing van Gerwen in the last eight.

The top quarter of section two in the draw sees Daryl Gurney, Jamie Lewis, last year’s shock semi finalist, Dave Chisnall and Kim Huybrechts as the seeded players with that section being anyone’s guess as to who would prevail.

Whilst Gary Anderson could face one of Steve Beaton or Darren Webster for a spot in the semi finals.

The bottom half of the draw has a seemingly easier way of working out who would prevail, much easier for the coupon collectors at Ally Pally.

Rob Cross, Peter Wright, Mensur Suljovic and Gerwyn Price will be favourites to get through their quarter, with Suljovic having the tougher section of the seeds in the bottom half with a potential quarter final clash with Michael Smith a possibility.

Can MVG rediscover his mojo?

Since that defeat to Rob Cross in last year’s epic semi final showdown, 2018 hasn’t quite gone the way that many, including Michael himself would have thought or wanted.

When he picked up the Masters title in Milton Keynes in January it felt as if it was going to be business as usual for the Dutchman, but little did he know what the following 12 months would throw at him.

Van Gerwen picked up his fourth consecutive Premier League title without a matter of fuss, but it would be the rest of this year’s major events which would prove to be difficult.

MVG was knocked out of both the UK Open and World Matchplay at the first hurdle, and on both occasions knocked out in sensation fashion by the unfenced Jeffrey de Zwann.

With Gary Anderson picking up both those titles and the Premier League, questions were asked before the World Grand Prix as to who was the best player in Darts.

Those questions were temporarily answered by an onslaught in Dublin as he blitz’d the field to win his fourth title at the double in/ double out tournament.

But defeats in the Grand Slam and Players Championship has asked the question again ahead of the biggest tournament of all, who is the best player in the World?

Retaining the World crown: 

Rob Cross’ World Championship victory last year came as a shock, but retaining it would be a remarkable achievement. Since Adrian Lewis’ back to back triumph at the start of the decade only Gary Anderson in 2015/16 has been able to keep hold of his World Championship crown.

Michael van Gerwen’s two defences of the World title have come grinding to a holt at the semi-final stages with defeats to Gary Anderson in 2015, and of course defeat to Cross in last year’s midnight epic.

Cross also goes into the World Championship in poor form in his most recent televised major events.

Following a last 16 appearance at the Grand Slam, Cross would exit at the first hurdle in both the World Series of Darts finals and the Players Championship finals.

To put in a run at Ally Pally, he will first need to rediscover the form which landed him the World title just 12 months ago.

Women’s World Darts Champion Lisa Ashton has qualified for the PDC World Darts Championship.

Ashton, who has won the BDO Women’s World Championship for the last four years, qualified through the PDC’s UK and Ireland Women’s World Championship qualifier after beating Maria O’Brien 6-3 in the final in Milton Keynes.

The Lancashire thrower will become the third women to take part in the PDC championships, after Gayle King in 2001, and Anastasia Dobromyslova in 2009, Dobromyslova secured a return to Ally Pally after winning the rest of the World qualifier last week in Dusseldorf.

As part of the expansion of the PDC World Darts Championship, the Professional Darts Corporation added two female qualifiers for the tournament, which takes place over Christmas at London’s Alexandra Palace.

The BDO have also announced that female players playing at the championships are also allowed to play in their World Championships at Lakeside in January.

World Number 17 Johny Clayton has beaten Michael van Gerwen to condemn the PDC World Number 1 to yet another televised defeat.

The Welshman with an average of over 103 bear MVG in a last leg shootout at the Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton. 

Clayton was on the receiving end of a van Gerwen onslaught in the opening part of the game with the Dutchman averaging 123 as deep as leg 6 of the match, having won the opening three legs of the match in 12, 11 and 10 darts respectively. 

But the Ferret dug deep to force a last leg decider, sealing the game with double top to topple van Gerwen with a checkout rate of 63%

And Clayton said that it will take time for such a victory to sink in: 

“I think I’m going to shake for a week.” 

“whether that be the Grand Slam, floor tournament, whatever, (beating van Gerwen) it’s always a massive win in your career.”

Two-time World Champion Gary Anderson made quick work of Ian ‘Diamond’ White in a ruthless display by The Flying Scotsman, averaging 112.

Anderson came out the traps flying, going into a 4-1 lead with his Potteries opponent rarely troubling with a 83 match average. 

The Scot hit seven 180’s before rounding off the game with an 88 finish on Double 14 to safely book his passage into the knockout stages. 

Elsewhere, five time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld survived four match darts to beat BDO World Masters champion Adam Smith-Neale 5-4. 

The first eight legs were shared on throw before against the darts Smith-Neale pulled away in the last leg against the darts before having four darts for the match, missing the lot, allowing Barneveld in to hit double 10 to win the match. 

James Wade’s winning run on TV continued as he defeated Keegan Brown 5-3 in a high quality affair. 

The win ensures the Machine’s TV winning streak is extended to 12 matches as he hit three ton plus checkouts along with a 104 average. 

There were two last leg deciders in the afternoon session with Rob Cross beating Dimitri van den Bergh 5-4 and Gerwyn Price defeating the BDO World Champion Glen Durrant by the same scoreline. 

But, the day did ultimately belong to the BDO players, with a vast improvement of results, with five out eight wins, compared to the solitary success yesterday. 

Wins for McGeeney and Mitchell in the Afternoon session was followed by victories for Unterbuchner, Robson and Harms in the evening.

Grand Slam of Darts Day 2 results:

Afternoon:

Mark McGeeney 5-3 Ryan Searle (H)

Josh Payne 5-2 Jim Williams (E)

Scott Mitchell 5-1 Martin Schindler (G)

Simon Whitlock 5-2 Andrew Gilding (F)

Stephen Bunting 5-3 Mensur Suljovic (G)

Rob Cross 5-4 Dimitri Van den Bergh (H)

Gerwyn Price 5-4 Glen Durrant (F)

Peter Wright 5-2 Max Hopp (E)

Evening:

Michael Unterbuchner 5-2 Steve Hine (D)

Gary Robson 5-4 Joe Murnan (A)

Wesley Harms 5-3 Mark Webster (C)

Raymond van Barneveld 5-4 Adam Smith-Neale (B)

James Wade 5-3 Keegan Brown (C)

Michael Smith 5-4 Krzysztof Ratajski (B)

Michael van Gerwen 4-5 Jonny Clayton (A)

Gary Anderson 5-1 Ian White (D)

Wes Newton is set to make his BDO World Championship debut in January after the BDO were told that no Asian Qualifier was to be put forward.

41-year-old Newton has made a resurgence in his career in 2018, moving over to the BDO circuit.

Newton failed to qualify for the World Championships through the main qualifying route, edged out by Andy Hamilton, before being the tournaments standby should the World Master already qualified for Lakeside. However, winner Adam Smith-Neale won the tournament and failed to obtain a World Championship birth.

The Warrior was listed as the highest qualified player not to qualify for the tournament, getting a call up after the World Championship Asian qualifier, which was due to be played at the Malaysian Open championships, was cancelled from the event.

The tournament gets underway at the Lakeside Country Club in Surrey on January 5.