BEN Ward gave himself a much-needed confidence boost with a run to the fourth round of the Singha Beer Grand Slam of Darts wildcard qualifiers in Wigan.

After receiving a bye in round one, the Dorchester ace thrashed Paul Anthony and then beat Steve Brown for the first time in his career.

But despite playing some excellent darts in his next match against Darren Webster, Ward was on the wrong end of a 4-1 defeat.

However, his performances have given him renewed hope of securing an automatic place at the World Championships, though he may well need to go through the qualifiers on December 1 instead.

“I was throwing really well in practice and took that into the tournament in Wigan,” he said. “But I came unstuck against a man who was unstoppable on the day.

“I’m just going to go to Coventry for the last Pro Tour event in a couple of weeks with the same attitude I had at the Grand Slam qualifiers.

“I can still qualify for the Worlds, it’s doable, but I need a really good run to be in with a sniff.

“It’s still in my own hands in a sense but I can’t think about it too much as it will affect my darts.”

The county town ace added: “If it happens then great, but if not I’ll have to do it the hard way by going through the qualifiers.”

Webster, Jamie Caven and Brendan Dolan were the three men to go through to this weekend’s Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton.