Martin Lukeman’s World Darts Championship hopes are again over before Christmas after he was beaten 3-1 by Andrew Gilding at Alexandra Palace this afternoon.

Seeded players have been dropping like flies in this year’s tournament and the Watford thrower had been hoping to send the 21st seed the same way as big names such as Michael Smith and Gary Anderson, but it was Gilding who came through to set up a third round clash with Nathan Aspinall.

Lukeman, who beat Nitin Kumar to make it through to the second round, made a slow start to the contest and lost the opening set 3-0.

However, the roles were reversed in the second set as Lukeman, who was aiming to reach the third round for the first time, powered back to win three straight legs to make it 1-1.

It looked like the momentum was swinging Lukeman’s way when he went 2-0 ahead in the third set, but his opponent won the next three legs to take that 3-2.

The fourth set also went the distance but Lukeman, who reached his first major final at the Grand Slam of Darts in November, was unable to take the match into a deciding set as Gilding prevailed 3-2.

The match statistics showed that Lukeman had a better success rate at the doubles – 39 per cent to Gilding’s 26 per cent – but he did not hit a single 180.

This was Lukeman’s third appearance at the sport’s showpiece event and the third time he has been knocked out in the second round.