Andrew Gilding and Wessel Nijman the surprise exits in a lively afternoon session at the Hungarian Darts Trophy

Andrew Gilding and Wessel Nijman were the big shock exits in the opening session of the Hungarian Darts Trophy on Friday afternoon in Budapest.

Gilding stormed into an ominous 2-0 lead in four visit legs, looking to continue the positive form he had been on. However, Dennant was not going to breeze past him, winning four legs on the spin to take a 4-2 advantage.

Goldfinger stopped the rot with a 13-darter, and levelled the tie after The Scholar missed two darts to go one away. Both missed darts to put themselves in pole position, but Dennant was the first to clean up on double 16, and sealed the tie on his fifth match dart after the former UK Open champion failed to force a last-leg decider.

Nijman was woeful in his defeat against Darren Beveridge. The Scot sprant out into a 4-0 lead. The young Dutchman's performance was summed up in the fourth leg, when he failed to get a double from 85, before missing three at the outer ring around the board. He managed to nick two legs, but it was never enough when you average 81 on the European Tour. Delight for Beveridge wins his first televised match on a big stage.

The session concluded with a scruffy match between Dirk van Duijvenbode and Tom Bissell. Both players struggled to find their range on the outer ring, with the Dutchman even bringing out the ear plugs at one point. This helped him at first as he got level for a last-leg decider, but went on to squander possible match darts after missing the big number twice from 60. Bissell pinned double 16 to cap off a match in which 37 darts at doubles were missed.

It could have been a fairytale story for Hungarian Andras Borbely. He impressed in his first round clash against Luke Woodhouse, taking out the 170 along with two other bull checkouts. Despite this, he could not get over the line against an impressive Woodhouse, who went 2-0 behind before mustering up an impressive comeback.

Kim Huybrechts came out on top in an entertaining tie against debutant Andreas Hyllgaardhus. The Dane put on a show on the oche, giving big celebrations and crazy shots, including a double-double outshot to clinch his first leg. However, the Belgian was too good for him, and progressed without any trouble.

It was a lot easier for Cameron Menzies, who breezed through his first-round tie against home-nation qualifier Nandor Pres, who won his first leg on the European Tour. That did not stop him from getting romped 6-1 by the Scot.

Ritchie Edhouse was delivered a massive blow in trying to qualify for the European Championships after he lost 6-2 against a clinical Ryan Joyce. He was no match for Relentless, who took out consecutive ton+ checkouts on the way to a brilliant win. Similar to Joyce, Ricardo Pietreczko missed just one double on the outer ring in his decimation of Jim Williams. He overcame previous bad luck in Hungary, finishing with a 146 checkout to add to the two previous ton+ checkouts he had accumulated earlier.

Ritchie Edhouse was delivered a massive blow in trying to qualify for the European Championships after he lost 6-2 against a clinical Ryan Joyce. He was no match for Relentless, who took out consecutive ton+ checkouts on the way to a brilliant win. Similar to Joyce, Ricardo Pietreczko missed just one double on the outer ring in his decimation of Jim Williams. He overcame previous bad luck in Hungary, finishing with a 146 checkout to add to the two previous ton+ checkouts he had accumulated earlier.

The final matchup of the afternoon session would be a very sketchy one between Dirk van Duijvenbode and Tom Bissell. Both players struggled to find their range on the outer ring, with the Dutchman even bringing out the ear plugs halfway through the tie. This may have helped him force a last-leg decider, but he squandered the chance of match darts after missing two big numbers from 60. Bissell pinned double 16 to seal his first win on the European Tour.