"I was 15k behind at the start of the month, so are clawing it back": Dave Chisnall faces race against time and ranking money for World Matchplay spot

Dave Chisnall has endured another disappointing spell on the PDC circuit. He missed a valuable opportunity to collect crucial prize money in the race to qualify for the World Matchplay, but he is refusing to throw in the towel. With just two ProTour events remaining, he still believes he can book his place at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

Chisnall arrived at the Slovak Darts Open with a warning for himself. Although he felt good and stepped up to the oche full of confidence, a few lapses in concentration almost led to a painful second-round exit.

"I felt good going into last week, which I know is something of a broken record at this point, but it’s the little passages of lost concentration that almost saw me go out to a qualifier on Friday, and undoubtedly contributed to me getting beat to Jermaine on Saturday," he said in his Kwiff column.

The former multiple major finalist appeared to be cruising into the next round in his opening match against Adrian Dudek. Leading 4-1, there seemed to be little danger, but the match suddenly turned on its head and Chisnall found himself trailing 5-4.

"On Friday, I was 4-1 up and cruising and went from 4-1 up to 5-4 down and on the brink of crashing out before barely even emptying my case. Thankfully, I broke him to level up and came out firing in the deciding leg with some strong scoring and avoided another huge potential banana skin."

A day later, Chisnall's campaign came to an early end after he was beaten by Jermaine Wattimena. The defeat was made even more frustrating by the fact that the Dutchman was comfortably eliminated in the following round.

"The annoying thing about the Wattimena result was, a bit like last season, he played very well to beat me and then poor in the next day. He got past Danny Noppert 6-5 and then was beaten 6-2 by Tom Sykes in the Quarter-Finals. I’ve had shrugged off a few legs of poor play I’m there in the quarters and probably go on a run."

"It’s all ifs and buts however, and if my aunty had b*******s she’d be my uncle wouldn’t she, so no point dwelling on. I needed to win 4 matches to get to the QFs and earn enough to likely stamp my card for Blackpool. I missed darts at a double when 3-2 down to level, and then missed tops for a 145 finish. It’s such fine margins in this sport.

Despite the disappointment, Chisnall can also see positive signs. Earlier this month he was a long way adrift in the World Matchplay qualification race, but he has significantly reduced the gap.

He now trails the players occupying the final qualification spots by around £6,000. With two Players Championship events still to come in Leicester, he has one final opportunity to make up the deficit.

"I’ve got 6k to make up on the lads in the final two spots – Damon Heta and Cam Menzies I think with two Pro Tour events at Leicester the week after next. The good thing to take from the last few weeks is that I was 15k behind at the start of the month, so are clawing it back, it’s just a question of potentially running out of time now. The game”s in better shape than it was a few months ago, so let’s hope I can produce a performance in Leicester, and get to go and see The Winter Gardens again."

The World Matchplay takes place from July 18–26 at the iconic Winter Gardens in Blackpool. Luke Littler will begin the tournament as defending champion after defeating James Wade 18-13 in last year's final.