“That’s darts,” was the simple assessment of Swindon player Mark Cox following his UK Open exit to Darren Webster yesterday.

Cox went down 5-1 to the experienced campaigner in round two in Minehead yesterday, having battled from behind to beat Shaun Narain 5-4 earlier in the day.

Webster simply had too much for Swindon’s Cox, who was philosophical following his exit from the tournament and determined to take the positives.

“The lad I played in the first round was pretty good, scored well and hit a few doubles, so he really should have beaten me,” he said.

“Fortunately I managed to scrape through by taking doubles when it mattered.

“I didn’t take that through to the next game and I really needed to against an experienced player like Darren because he’s always going to play well.

“The result tells the whole story and I deserved to lose, but that’s darts.

“It happens sometimes because you have good days and you have bad days, you just have to live with that. I was happy to be here in the first place and I have to take positives from that.”

Cox - like his fellow Swindon players Johnny Haines, Chris Aubrey and Dennis Smith - return to action in Barnsley next weekend in the first round of Players Championship tournaments.