STUART Kellett missed out on a place at next month’s Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) World Championship in agonising circumstances on Monday.

The Northwich thrower was thwarted by John Bowles (5-3) in a deciding match for one of four places on offer during a qualifier at Wigan.

It marks a second successive year the 35-year-old has fallen short at the final hurdle.

“Fair play to John – he’s a top man who took his chances,” said Kellett.

“It’s very hard to take any positives right now – I feel unlucky.”

The cost is dear, for the Cheshire regular will lose his tour card after dropping out of the rankings’ top 64.

He can win it back if he comes through the PDC’s Qualifying School – a four-day competition scheduled for January.

Kellett, seeded 10th, set up a winner-takes-all clash with Bowles by recording victories against Nigel Heydon (5-1), Nigel Daniels (5-3) and former World Matchplay runner-up Ronnie Baxter (5-3).

However he could not repeat the trick against his Widnes-based foe, an opponent he pipped to a spot at the 2013 world championships in the same way.

It leaves him 66th on the Order of Merit, just £1,500 adrift of Jyhan Artut two places in front.

Kellett has made three previous appearances at the PDC’s showpiece, suffering first-round exits to Vincent van der Voort, Paul Nicholson and, most recently, Sascha Stein.