Norwich darts ace Darren Webster came close to the biggest win of his career this evening, after making his first major semi-final.

https://twitter.com/OfficialPDC/status/802958172180783104

The 48-year-old was taking on world number one Michael van Gerwen in the semi-finals of the PDC Players Championship Finals in Minehead.

He raced into a 6-0 lead against the dominant Dutchman, who has won seven of the PDC's premier events so far this year, but allowed the lead to slip as van Gerwen drew level at 6-6 in front of a rowdy Butlins crowd.

Webster, from Bowthorpe, then twice reclaimed the lead in the best-of-21 match but saw his opponent rally to claim an 11-8 victory.

Reaching the semi-finals was still a major achievement for Webster, earning him £20,000 in prize money, and he remained happy with his achievement despite seeing such a huge scalp slip through his fingers.

Eastern Daily Press: Cash Converters Players Championship 2016 semi-finals, Darren Webster in action against Michael van Gerwen. Picture: Lawrence Lustig/PDCCash Converters Players Championship 2016 semi-finals, Darren Webster in action against Michael van Gerwen. Picture: Lawrence Lustig/PDC (Image: Picture: Lawrence Lustig/PDC)

'I should have buried him but he isn't world number one for nothing is he,' Webster said, speaking on ITV4. 'He came back at me, I thought I gave him a game.

'I started thinking 11-0 when I was 6-0 up! But then he came back and, you know, you've got to try and destroy people. Unfortunately he got back at me and that's what Michael does.'

Webster beat Christian Kist 10-6 this afternoon, in his first televised quarter-final in almost 10 years, having defeated Simon Whitlock 6-3 in the second round and Alan Norris 10-5 in the third round on Saturday.