WEBSTER READY TO KICK ON

(from www.markwebster.tv)

Mark Webster is hoping to kick-start his season when he faces Colin Lloyd in round one of the Betfair World Matchplay on Monday evening.

Webster faces an in-form ‘Jaws’ at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens, where he made it to the quarter-finals last year.

In fact, the Welsh left-hander reached at the least the quarter-finals in five televised tournaments in 2011, but suffered a first round exit in the 2012 World Championships and was overlooked for a McCoy’s Premier League place, before being knocked out of the Speedy Services UK Open in the third round.

“My form has been patchy this year,” said Webster, the 2008 BDO World Champion.

“There have been times when I’ve played well but I haven’t got the results to go with it. Hopefully that will change next week.

“I want to go there and do better than I did last year, which means going further than the quarter-finals.

“Of course I set out to win any tournament I enter but it’s getting harder. There are so many good players around but I’ll do my best.”

‘Spider’ is expecting a tough opening match against Lloyd, who won a Players Championship event at the beginning of the month, but is confident that he can get the right result.

“Lloydy is in good form again,” said Webster. “I’ll be going into the match thinking I can beat him but he’ll be thinking the same about me so it could be a cracker.

“It could go either way, so I’ll have to be at my best to make sure it goes my way.”

Webster, who was runner up in the 2011 Players Championship Finals, has a vested interest in another player who has qualified for the Matchplay – World Youth Champion James Hubbard, who is sponsored by the world number nine.

“He (Hubbard) has done fantastic to qualify for the second biggest tournament of the year,” said Webster.

“He only went professional at the beginning of this year so it is a fantastic achievement and he definitely has the ability to cause an upset or two.”

By Chris Murphy

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