Frustrating Payne could fall prey to Jeff Smith

Sky Sports Action, 1pm & 7pm Saturday

Michael van Gerwen is very much top of the bill at Alexandra Palace on Saturday on a card for the darting purists at the William Hill World Championship.

Van Gerwen, who went into the tournament the 13-8 favourite, will be the final arrowsmith on stage on the night for his second-round tussle against Alan Tabern, who beat Raymond Smith 3-2 in round one on Friday.

It’s a seriously multi-national card with a number of uneasy-looking favourites, among them Josh Payne, who takes on Jeff Smith.

Payne can throw, of that there’s no doubt, but we still await the breakthrough from the 25-year-old, whose year hasn’t been the best.

There were promising signs at the Grand Slam, where he reached the last 16, though the sum total of his work in Wolverhampton was one win against Jim Williams and three losses. He then went to the Players Championship Finals and was seen off briskly by Ryan Searle.

Payne has also drawn a dangerous opponent in Canadian Smith, who made his debut at Ally Pally last year and thrashed Luke Humphries in round one before running into a Gary Anderson onslaught.

The Silencer made some noise by reaching the Lakeside final three years ago, won the WDF’s World Cup last year and continues to make an impact in North America where the qualifying heats for this event are pretty competitive.

Smith has been in the UK for a week and is planning on having a shot at Q-School, so he clearly means business.

Another favourite who could face a big challenge is Keegan Brown, the one-time boy wonder who just has not been able to make the big jump to the top level.

The Isle of Wight chucker is such a classy thrower and such a nice lad that a lot of people are willing him to come good which looked on the cards when, as world youth champion, he took out Adrian Lewis and Raymond van Barneveld at the Grand Slam.

Since then, however, his TV performances have been disappointing and he can suffer with confidence issues. That means that if doughty Czech qualifier Karel Sedlacek can stick with him their match could easily go all the way.

Sedlacek won the Czech Open last month and memorably once averaged a tad shy of 100 in a defeat by Glen Durrant at the Lakeside, so he can trouble anyone. Back him to win at least two sets.

Recommendations
J Smith
1pt 5-4 general
K Sedlacek +1.5 sets on handicap
1pt 19-10 Betfred

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