How Michael van Gerwen schooled Dean Winstanley within 10 minutes

Dean Winstanley was a darts player who went from being a number one in the BDO to trying his hand at the PDC. After graduating Q School in his maiden year, he powered his way through the UK Open, World Matchplay and World Grand Prix. He was making waves and getting noticed beating PDC talent such as Paul Nicholson, Gary Anderson and Dave Chisnall.

His best performance came at the Grand Slam of Darts in 2012, where he topped the group with Kevin Painter, Simon Whitlock and James Hubbard. He started the knock-out stage with a 10-5 victory over Arron Monk, before beating Kevin Painter 16-12 to reach the last four. Unfortunately for 'Over The Top' he met Michael van Gerwen in the semi-finals.

Winstanley and his manager Matthew Ward looked back on the showdown with Van Gerwen, who was determined not to make it a close encouter. ''Ten minutes into the game, all the preparation, we were really looking forward to it. We thought, right, we could actually win a major here. Then ten minutes later you were 9-0 down'', said Ward on behalf of MDA Events.

Van Gerwen proved ruthless and punished all Winstanley's mistakes. Despite the huge lead for ‘Mighty Mike’, Winstanley refused to give up. ''I’ll never forget Michael blowing me a kiss after - I think it was the 9th leg - he kicked off with a 180-score – and I backed it and I gave him 180 and literally blew him a kiss back.''

Despite being 9-0 down to one of the all time great darts players, Winstanley’s confidence never waivered and managed to add a couple legs to his name before losing 16-8 to Van Gerwen. Reflecting on the match, Dean Winstanley had nothing but praise for the Dutchman. ''He was awesome, he is awesome, he's not the big daddy for nothing is he.''