Ian Collett kept his nerve to win the February Darts Singles Knock-Out at The Brow on Friday night with some cool play in a gripping final against Kevin Ward.

The standard of play from some of the entrants may have been slightly lacking in the early rounds when it was almost 'nearest the board' to decide the starting order but, by the end of the evning, the quality was top drawer as the cream rose to the top to providing an exciting spectacle.

Collett, under pressure from the consistent Ward, hit the doubles when it mattered to win the final 2-0 and it was little more than he deserved after a superb semi-final victiory against the fancied Kevin Brown.

Ward had possibly the easier last four task when faced by 'surprise package' Ray Clay whose pre-competition form hardly had the backers rushing to support him. The losing quarter finalists were Steve Whitfield, who certainly had more douibles in his glass than he managed on the board, Phil Lingard, Mark Richie and Danny White.

The tournament was brought to life in the opening round when ante-post favourite Shaun Calladine inexplicably got tumbled by the Editor who rubbed salt in the wound by throwing righthanded after injuring his wrist in the warm-up. As one wag put it "This was as shocking a result as Sutton United's famous FA Cup win over Coventry City or James 'Buster' Douglas beating Mike Tyson."

This was not the only first round upset however as the Savill family were all sent for drug tests after Ryan succumbed to Danny White, father Brian perished at the hands of Ray Clay and, even more amazingly, younger brother Gregan was ousted by Paul Le Ford whose week long-preparation had seen him thrashed repeatedly by all members of the 5 o'clock club!

The first round losers were paired in the double competition and successs in this event went to Ashley Edwards and Ryan Savill who edged home 2-1 against John Fox and Shaun Calladine in a frenetic finale. The winners had overcome Paul Welton and Ben Woodrow in the semis where the Fox / Calladine partnership had accounted for Brian Savill and Kevin Pegrum.

Resident compere Andy Lockyer (who perhaps surprisingly tasted defeat in the opening rounds of both competitions) presented the prizes and thanked Ashley Edwards for his excellent organisation, ably assisted by scorers Paul Johnson, Paul Le Ford and Paul Welton. Lady Cava Paget's splendid performance behind the bar was also acknowledged.

The highest checkout during the evening was 48 by Kevin Brown whilst Paul Le Ford astonished all with a 'fluke' 132 to achieve the highest score. Phil Lingard managed the lowest three dart score (three) and Shaun Calladine won the pot for being the closest to predicting that there would be 19 'Pegrums' (wrong bed doubles) during the evening's play.