Terry Jenkins suffers his first Premier League defeat

Terry Jenkins paid the price for missed chances against Mervyn King

Herefordshire darts player Terry Jenkins suffered his first defeat of the Premier League season when he lost 8-5 to Mervyn King in Exeter.

Jenkins admitted he had paid the price for not taking some good opportunities at crucial stages of the match.

He said: "I knew I had to break him at 4-4 but my dart at double top was just the wrong side of the wire.

"My performances are a bit patchy at the moment and I need to be more consistent," he added.

Jenkins had taken a win and two draws from the tournament's opening three weeks but was edged out by a fine performance by King.

King won the game's opening two legs, hitting double six for a 72 finish and double 16 in the second, before being punished as Jenkins landed a 14-darter to get off the mark.

A fine 116 checkout for a 12-dart leg saw Jenkins level and the pair traded the next four legs to leave the scores poised at four-all.

Two missed darts at double eight gave Jenkins his chance to edge ahead, but crucially he was off-target on tops as King returned to take his opportunity.

The duo swapped maximums in the 10th leg before King moved two clear at 6-4, but he saw a dart at tops for a 160 finish in the next land on the wrong side of the wire as Jenkins hit the same bed to halve the arrears.

But he missed his chance to level again in leg 12 as double 16 gave King his seventh leg before he powered over the winning line, hitting two 180s in a 12-dart finish to wrap up the victory.