NEW Stan James World Matchplay champion Colin Lloyd admitted after winning his second major title that he couldn't believe it when he saw his last dart hit the bullseye to claim a famous victory over John Part.
The Canadian was just beginning to stage a fightback after Lloyd had missed two darts for the match in the previous leg, and another leg lost with the throw could just have seen Lloyd wobble, making the maximum checkout vitally important.
"The honest truth was hit it or bust," said Lloyd. "John was sat on a finish and when the first treble went in and the second followed I had nothing to lose.
"When it went in, the first thing I did was turn round and look at John as if to say 'I can't believe it's gone in'."
Lloyd, who is also sitting pretty at the top of the world rankings, has now firmly established himself as the pretender to Phil Taylor's crown as the best player in the world.
"I'm the current World Grand Prix champion and now current World Matchplay champion," continued Lloyd. "It means so much to me, I've now got two world titles under my belt and whether it's the world championship or not, I don't care. I'm absolutely over the moon."
The cynics out there will still point to the fact that Lloyd has yet to beat Taylor in a major tournament, but the player himself is not concerned.
"It doesn't bother me that I haven't beaten Phil in front of the cameras, not one little bit," he added. "I can only beat the people that are put in front of me and I did that all week.
"John's a very good friend of mine and he played well enough to take out Phil last week, and he also had a tough semi-final against Peter Manley. But the final was a different ball game altogether."
Lloyd, who came of age in last year's World Matchplay in a quarter-final against Taylor after slugging it out leg for leg for an hour, has really established himself as a big game player since then, but he believes that Saturday was his best ever performance in a major.
"That's the best I've played in front of the TV cameras," he added. "I lambasted 180's and took out some massive shots under huge pressure but there were still legs I should have won that I didn't.
"I was consistent all week though and I was consistent in the final as well so I've got to be pleased. Checking out over 50% in a final is also something that I'm proud of."
Since turning pro over a year ago, Lloyd has called on the help of former number one and two time Matchplay champion Rod Harrington and now that Lloyd has joined him on the list of winners fills him with pride.
"Rod has been looking after my day to day affairs for a while now so it means a great deal to have won this tournament as this was Rod's favourite event as well," he said. "But that wasn't the reason I wanted to win it.
"Rod's experience is a great help though and he fills me with confidence if there are ever times when I start to doubt myself."
