BEN Ward went beyond the second round of a Players’ Championship event for the first time this season at Crawley’s K2 Centre.

The PDC pro from Dorchester didn’t get off to the best of starts in Saturday’s third event of the year, losing 6-2 to Jyhan Artut in round one.

However, in Sunday’s fourth event, Ward beat Tony Newell 6-2 and the experienced Colin Osborne 6-4, before going down 6-2 to Stephen Bunting.

Gary Anderson and Phil Taylor were the winners on both days, while the fifth and sixth instalments of the Players’ Championship take place in Wigan on April 12-13.