Darts: King to reign for one night in Wolverhampton?

Tonight 2-time BDO world finalist Mervyn King (pictured) has a chance to leave an impression on the Grand Slam of Darts when he meets 19-year old James Hubbard.

Hubbard made his TV debut yesterday picking up a lot of fans in a 5-1 defeat to living legend Phil Taylor.

The commentary team on the Taylor vs Hubbard contest frequently spoke of how this is Hubbard's first match on the big screen and how anything he gets will be a bonus. I agreed with that; he was naturally a massive underdog and against the greatest darts player ever nerves were natural. When he picked up a leg Taylor was clearly surprised; he had handled the pressure pretty well despite the final scoreline.

Tonight however I feel the thought of an upset could be sneaking into the minds of fans who watched yesterday’s match. King (1/6) comes into this match favourite but after his glistening display against "The Power" the young apprentice painter-decorator Hubbard (11/2) could well give King a good challenge. King lost his opening match in Group E 5-3 to Steve Beaton; he is clearly not in form.

Realistically King must win this match to have any chance of progressing to the last 16. Most will expect Phil Taylor to dispose of Beaton in tonight's other Group E match (which would take him to 4 points) while a win for King against Hubbard would put him on 2 points (the same as Beaton) however crucially I believe Beaton's victory over King will be decisive in this group; Beaton's final match will be against Hubbard while King will have to face Taylor; assuming nothing unexpected happens Beaton will defeat Hubbard and Taylor will defeat King leaving Taylor top of the group on 6 points, Beaton second on 4 points and King in third on 2 points, in this scenario Hubbard would be last place on 0 points.

King will want to leave some sort of impression on this competition and so will be hungry to demolish the young up-and-coming player. I fancy King to win 5-0 (11/2) or 5-1 (3/1) with minimal pressure on him with his likely exit from the competition coming. Comparatively Hubbard will once again be feeling the nerves of sharing the stage with a season pro of the darting world.

Even if my somewhat pessimistic prediction materialises for Hubbard, the young man from Norfolk, we will see him again. He reached the PDC World Youth Championship Final earlier this month which resulted in his qualification for this event and the dream match with Phil Taylor. By performing so well in this event Hubbard (alongside fellow finalist "Mighty" Michael van Gerwen) earned himself PDC Pro Tour cards for years 2012 and 2013. Even if he does not qualify for any TV events during these years we are guaranteed to see him again in May for the World Youth Championship Final where he will face van Gerwen who seems to have been on the darts circuit for years.