KENDAL oche star Tony Newell has not given up hopes of securing a place at the World Darts Championship at the prestigious Alexandra Palace in London.

The 32-year-old added £500 to his prize fund after reaching the final 32 in Round 16 of the PDC ProTour across the Irish Sea this weekend.

Newell swept aside 13th seed Wes Newton, before hitting three 100+ checkouts on his way to victory over Darron Brown in Dublin.

But he then met his match in seventh seed James Wade, a two-time UK Open winner , in a 6-2 defeat.

The former Windermere School caretaker was also beaten by eighth seed Dave Chisnall, who lost out in the final of the 2013 World Grand Prix to Phil Taylor, the day before.

Newell moved up two places to 104th in the ProTour Order of Merit and believes around £4,000 prize money over the final four rounds of competition will see him reach the Championship in December.

"A lot of us are all bunched up," he said. "One good weekend could change anything for all of us. I am playing well enough but need a bit of luck with the draws."

On Saturday, Newell lost out 6-1 in the First Round against Chisnall, but it could have easily been a different story.

"I played well and could have gone 3-0 up," said Newell. "I checked out 157 in the first leg then the next two were tight and could have gone either way and maybe I could have pinched them. But after that he kicked on and I didn't really have an answer to it."

Twenty four hours later and Newell found form.

He raced into a 5-1 lead over Fleetwood's Newton before surviving a scare to win 6-4.

"When you go into these things you know you're going to get a seed at some point but to get two in the two first rounds was always going to be tough," Newell said.

"It was quite nice to beat him. I played him at the UK Open Qualifiers and got beat 6-5. I missed three double 16s to win the match so when I was at that point again I had a bit of revenge on my mind.

"He is not up there for no reason and is obviously a good player. I don't know whether I took him by surprise but it's a good sign beating someone of his calibre."

Newell then met Brown in the final 64 and eased to a 6-1 win before coming up against the experienced Wade, who has amassed £229,950 and sits in seventh place in the PDC Order of Merit.

"I was very happy with the way I played," said Newell. "I don't think there was a lot of legs where after nine darts the pair of us weren't on finishes so I was there with scoring but he was checking out just before me.

"The scoreline flattened him but he showed his experience. He has been there for years, won lots of majors and is one of the top boys.

"If it had been a hammering I might have been a down but I certainly didn't give the game to him - he had to earn it."

Newell next competes on the weekend of October 18-19 in Crawley in rounds 18/19 over the PDC.