KEVIN PAINTER 6-2 COLIN OSBORNE

KEVIN PAINTER punished a sloppy finishing performance from Colin Osborne to take a 6-2 victory in their Cash Converters Players Championship first round clash.

Osborne missed 13 darts at a double in the eight-leg contest as his hopes of progressing to the last 16 at the Doncaster Dome were ended.

Three of those misses came in the opening leg as Painter stepped in to take out 118, and he then landed double six to move two legs up.

Painter then hit a 180 in the third, but missed double 11 for a 102 finish and Osborne stepped in to land double ten to get off the mark.

He posted a 177 in the fourth, but saw his chance to level go begging as Painter landed double four for a 3-1 cushion.

Painter was punished in the fifth as Osborne hit double five to reduce the gap to one again, but when he missed the bull to square the game in leg six the Daventry ace pounced.

Osborne also missed the bull in the next as double ten pushed Painter to the brink of victory, which he sealed with a classy 14-dart finish on double eight.

"Both of us got bogged down a bit and there's a lot of respect between us but I probably deserved to win it," said Painter. "Colin missed a few doubles and stepped in and took the chances.

"I'm feeling good and have been playing nicely recently and I was a bit edgy tonight but I can relax in the second round."