BOLTON darts ace Paul Williams faces his next test tonight in his bid to land the Embassy World Darts Championship. Williams, the 34 years old engineer from Smithills, faces Londoner Andy Fordham in a second round clash at the Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green.

The two men have met in the competition once before, but Fordham went on to win the 1995 quarter final clash 4-2.

That offers Williams the perfect revenge motive and his form this week has suggested that he will go into the game with bags of confidence.

Two maximum 180s in what turned out to be the last two legs earned him a thrilling first round win over Kent's Matt Clark and a check out on 64 clinched victory.

"If I can recreate my form of those first couple of sets tonight then I must have a good chance.

"This time thoigh, I can't afford to go to sleep for a couple of sets." Manchester United fan Paul will have the backing of his greatest fan, his wife Joanne, at tonight's big match but he will have to do without his cheerleaders, the Lancashire Hotpots.

That's a group of Joanne's friends who have travelled all over the country to cheer on their hero but several of them have been unable to make the trip to Essex this time.

Nevertheless Paul has shown that he can handle the pressure of the big stage.

Last year he figured in a tense tussle with Les Wallace in a contest that attracted a television audience of over a million.

He eventually lost out to Wallace, who went on to win the event, but not before he had treated his fans to some top class throwing.

"It is daunting when you're up there. You know the TV cameras are there and that the eyes of the world are on you. You can hear the crowd cheering you on but you tend to ignore it because you're concentrating so hard, " he explained.

On that occasion his finishing let him down. "I should have won the first three sets but I didn't. I just stood there thinking that I shouldn't have been in that position. I scored well but couldn't kill the game."

That will be his aim tonight against Fordham.

"I know I've got the ability to win. I've beaten all the top guys in the past and with a little bit of luck I can do it."

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