SEAN Miles’s mad dash down from Wigton proved all in vain as he bowed out of the Evening Mail Darts Competition with a 3-1 defeat to Gary Ryce in their deciding match in the Dalton area final.

Miles was representing Cumbria in their BDO Inter-County Championship Division Two match against league leaders Northamptonshire during the day and was faced with a race to make the 86-mile trip to Dalton Cricket Club in time for Saturday night’s grand final qualifiers. But having come from two legs down to knockout 2010 competition winner Steve Callister in his first match of the night, he was unable to repeat the trick against Ryce, who closed out a 3-1 win to reach the grand final.

“Finishing-wise, I was very pleased with how I played, but scoring-wise it left a lot to be desired,” said Ryce. “We’re getting there though.

“I’ve played Sean on a number of occasions where he’s been 2-0 up and I’ve been 2-0 up, and I thought ‘not again’. But luckily, my finishing was the best it has been in a long while and I’m happy about that.

“My scoring has been better in practice than my finishing, but here it was the other way around. To be fair though, I’d rather take mediocre scores and take my finishes.”

Miles’s last-eight match-up against defending champion Steve Callister was arguably the highlight of the Dalton area finals draw and proved just as close as expected, with Miles eventually prevailing 3-2.

The Wellington Inn thrower had to do it the hard way though, having gone 2-0 down in the best of five match-up after Callister broke his throw in the first leg and then took out double five to go one away from advancing.

Cue the fightback though and Miles won leg three by hitting double top, having set it up with scores of 100 and 140, followed by levelling the match against the throw with double nine. He then took out 66 to clinch a place in the semi-finals, where he would face Ryce.

The Millom man was up against home town favourite Ryan Steele in his quarter-final, with the Dalton man receiving plenty of vocal support from the assembled crowd. However, Ryce took out 86 to go one up and then landed double top to take leg two.

Steele – a 50/1 outsider to win the competition – briefly threatened a revival by winning the third leg with a double 16 finish, but Ryce closed out the match by skilfully taking out 145 to seal his semi-final spot.

He stormed into a 2-0 lead in the showdown with Miles, finishing on double top and then moving a leg away from victory by eventually checking out on double 10 at the fourth attempt.

And although Miles was able to find some form by winning the third and then landing a 180 to pressure the throw, a 56 checkout saw Ryce seal his progress and keep his hopes of lifting the main prize alive.

The other semi-final pitted Steve Woodburn against Chris Pickthall, with both winning through 3-0 against Kevin Beaumont and Karen Kirkby – who won the old Evening Mail ladies darts competition as Karen Atkinson in 1990 – respectively.

And it was Woodburn, of the King’s Arms in Ulverston, who won through without dropping a leg all night after seeing off outsider and another Dalton representative Pickthall with a 3-0 win.

“I was very lucky,” said Woodburn. “Our half of the draw was very difficult. You’ve got Steve Callister – reigning Evening Mail champion; Sean Miles – who should be reigning Evening Mail champion – and I was just lucky to be in there, and I just kept going.

“There are a lot of good darters in this area – Chris Irvine, James Kempster is the boy to beat at the moment. I feel really fortunate to progress and I’m just looking forward to the play-off finals, really.”

The remaining six places for the grand final on March 11 will be filled from the Barrow area final this Saturday.