Well it’s safe to say that Minehead won’t be high up on Stephen’s favourite destinations list at the moment.

Unfortunately for the Liverpudlian, it was a repeat of November’s arduous trek down to Somerset in the Player’s Championship, suffering defeat in the opening match.

The UK Open draw can be kind or cruel. But both Stephen and Peter Wright wouldn’t have fancied facing one another to kick off their campaign.

It was a fixture that looked close on paper. And indeed, up on the oche, it was precisely that.

But on this occasion, a match that went it’s maximum number of legs, saw Snakebite grab the vital deciding one to claim a 10-9 victory.

Speaking on the game Stephen said: “Even though I drew Peter, I was very confident of getting the win.

“That’s the nature of the draw, you just have to have a bit of luck when your name comes out of the hat. But you just have to get on with it. He [Wright] wouldn’t have been too thrilled with it either.

“That said, I got off to a really good start and should have built on my 4-1 lead.

“As always, I’ll look for the positives. At 9-7 down, I forced a last leg decider including missing D12 for the perfect 9-dart when making it all square. But my scoring just wasn’t there and that’s ultimately what cost me.

“I’ll now hit the practice board and get ready for Barnsley next weekend.

“I’d also just like to congratulation Andrew Gilding on his first TV title.”