Sunday 29 June 2014 23:08, UK
James Wade ended a three-year wait for a tournament victory by claiming the Gibraltar Darts Trophy at the Victoria Stadium.
A seven-time major winner who has not triumphed since the Players Championship events on successive weekends in October 2011, Wade finally broke his drought by beating Steve Beaton 6-4 in Sunday's final.
To do so he had to rally from a 4-1 deficit after Beaton had seemingly seized control, taking three legs on the spin including a 99 checkout in the third.
However Wade fought back in sensational fashion, an 11-darter seeing him gain the break back before levelling the game in leg eight by punishing missed doubles from Beaton with a 76 finish.
He then moved ahead for the first time in the next, landing double 10 after seeing Beaton miss double 11 for what would've seen him complete a 142 finish.
With momentum now in his favour Wade, who had to come through the qualifiers in Crawley just to book his place at the main event, secured the title with double 10.
"I've won so many tournaments but it got to a point where I thought I wasn't going to win another one, and this means more to me than any TV tournament I've ever won," said Wade, who moves up to fifth in the PDC Order of Merit.
"I wasn't quite sure if I could do it. Even though people said I could win more titles, it's different actually doing it so I'm really happy.
"I really enjoyed this weekend and at 4-1 down in the final I just wanted to relax and make a game of it.
"I'm still a long way from my best but I never give up and I've shown a lot of desperation. I've got no fear of hitting the winning double but it's getting to it that's the hard bit!"
