The Muffin Man Steve Hine was the best of the Coventry Darts performers at PDC Tour Players Championship 8 event on Saturday afternoon at K2 Centre, Crawley.
The 40-year-old Coventry City season ticket holder blasted-out Darren Weaver (6-1), Geoff Whitworth (6-0) before ending his run in round three against Southend's Magic Man and world-ranked 47 Steve Maish in a close 6-5 tussle.
"I've thought I played pretty well today," said Hine, the part-time baker who still plays regularly on the competitive Coventry Superleague circuit and Warwickshire County squad. "I won my first two games very comfortably then I got beaten by a very good player in Steve Maish.
"But the main aim for me this year is to qualify for the world championship."
Kevin Dowling, who is based at Cherry Tree Sports & Social Club, Foleshill, fell in round two to Anthony Urmston-Toft 6-4, while fellow club-mate Mark Carter was a first round casualty to Geoff Whitworth 6-2. Former BDO world champion Steve Beaton also crashed at the first round hurdle, narrowly beaten 6-5 against Martyn Turner.
150 players took part today in a bid not only to claim vital ranking points but also gain entry to the main televised stages in Purfleet next January. Hine, currently ranked 49 in the PDC world rankings reckons the circuit is getting as tougher as ever: "The standard in the circuit during the last couple of years has improved by numerous folds. Even the players ranked from 40 to 70 in the world are of real quality and extremely hard to beat. To make it in this circuit you really have to cut the mustard and have a bit of luck.
"It's very expensive to do the PDC circuit. A lot of players here rely on sponsorship to help them attend and play every tournament on the calendar."
Away from the oche, with nine games to go can the Sky Blues make the play-offs? Hine, well known for bringing muffins and tossing them to the crowd during his walk-on, reckons it is still a possibility despite the recent home when one out of a possible six points were taken against Plymouth and Cardiff, respectively: "Mathematically we can make the play-offs but the last two games have been gut wrenching after picking just one point out of six. The Ricoh has been a real fortress recently; we haven't lost there for months.
"There was a belief around the city that we are going to make it. I started believing in it but that the last two games have taken the edge off that belief. But it's still mathematically possible and I still hope we can get into the play-offs and hopefully we can make it to Wembley.
Hine is a fan of the current manager Chris Coleman and reckons chairman Ray Ranson is doing an excellent job in the daily running of the club: "I believe the manager we got Chris Coleman is a great manager. I think he's doing a great job. When he came in he didn't inherent and bought those players from Dowie's reign. It's proves this season with the players he has bought in, which is his own players; he's doing such a great job. I fully expect that if we can't make the play-offs this season then there's no reason we can't move on and make a real go for promotion next season.
"I'm happy with Ranson, he's trying his best. The main stumbling block I believe is the council own the stadium which is the main issue. He's made offers, he wants to buy half the arena, he wants to start making money on the arena but without the backing of Coventry City Council then it's going to be hard. But he's still in there, he still putting the money in, he's giving it a go and hopefully he will continue to give us support.
"But if it wasn't for the council the stadium wouldn't be built in the first place. The Ricoh is a fantastic arena. It's built for Premier League football so there's no reason it's shouldn't be there. The arena is justified for staging Premier League football."
With just a month to go before the 2009/10 season closes, Hine gives his own assessment on the player who has really caught his eye since the first ball was kicked back in August: "I could easily say it's Keiren Westwood because he is always a fantastic player but the most improved player this season, not so much improved but has played well this season, in my opinion is Freddy Eastwood. In his first year it seemed he didn't want to be here but this year he has proved us all wrong and he really wants to play for City and hopefully he wants to play next year and go onwards and upwards.
"People say who is Gary Deegan but since we've signed him he's played well for the last month and a half. Whatever decisions we make or the players we've got then we got to give the backing. I don't think we've got any bad players here. And we have got to make the best use of the players we have available."
And Hine is in the majority with his fellow Sky Blues when it comes down to hating Aston Villa more than Leicester City: "That's a very tough question but I think it says it all in the name so it's Aston Vile really! I don't really like Leicester very much but Aston Villa probably just tip it"
This is his prediction on tomorrow's crucial M69 derby which where a victory for the real City will see them go back to eighth place and two points behind the play-offs: "Us to win 3-0 hopefully with Freddie Eastwood hat-trick."
Picture copyright and courtesy of PDC.