Former world champion John Lowe was knocked out of the World Championships by Les Fitton at Purfleet's Circus Tavern in the second round on Sunday.

The 13th seed looked out of sorts and was no match for an in-form Fitton who won 4-1, but the oldest player in the tournament ruled out any talk of retirement.

"I really did struggle today. Maybe it's a sign of playing too long, if I think I should stand on that stage and it should happen automatically," he said.

I would have had to have played exceptionally well to beat him John Lowe

"It's rotten to play bad, but the crowd accept that because they remember the good days, which is nice. Maybe the old train's coming to a halt.

"I'll only stop playing when the game tells me to stop.

"I'll be back and I'll play good darts again."

It was a sweet moment for Fitton who avenged his first-round defeat by Lowe in this competition last year and will now play his fellow Lancastrian Alan Warriner in the next round.

Fitton was unfazed by the overwhelming support for Lowe from a noisy crowd and left his opponent reeling by winning the first two sets, rarely allowing his 57-year-old opponent a shot at a double.

Although disappointed with his performance, Lowe was quick to pay tribute to his opponent.

"Les played brilliant tonight and he deserved to beat me out of sight. In all honesty, I would have had to have played exceptionally well to beat him," he said.

I wasn't too happy with my overall form John Part

Fitton admitted he had found it tough to play in the face of such huge support for Lowe, but was thrilled to pass such a stern test.

"Playing John and playing the crowd was hard work. John's one of the all-time greats. I was just hoping to beat him because I owed him one," he said.

Another former world champion John Part saw off a spirited challenge from Cliff Lazarenko to reach the third round.

The Canadian world number two, second favourite behind 10-times world champion Phil Taylor to lift the title at Purfleet, won 4-1.

After his success, Part admitted he needed to improve to have any chance of taking Taylor's crown.

He said: "I wasn't too happy with my overall form.

"It's tough playing a guy like Cliff who's a hero of mine and everyone, but in darts you can't afford to feel sorry for anybody."

Fourth seed Alan Warriner is also safely through to the third round after defeating Rod Harrington 4-2.

Earlier on Sunday, ninth seed Denis Ovens had little trouble booking his place in the last 16 as he saw off Watford's Alex Roy 4-1.

Ovens won the first three sets thanks to some pinpoint accuracy on the doubles before Roy won a scrappy fourth set on a deciding leg.

But the Stevenage thrower wrapped up victory with a 157 finish on his way to winning the fifth set and will now meet eighth seed Dennis Smith in round three.

PDC World Championship 2nd round:

Second round results (best of seven sets):
L Filton (Eng) bt J Lowe (Eng) 4-1
D Ovens (Eng) bt A Roy (Eng) 4-1
J Part (Can) bt C Lazarenko (Eng) 4-1
A Warriner (Eng) bt R Harrington (Eng) 4-2
D Askew (Eng) bt S Beaton (Eng) 4-3
R Scholten (Ned) bt S Burgess (Eng) 4-1

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