Martin Lukeman has thanked everyone who has supported him during his breakthrough year after being knocked out of the Cazoo World Darts Championship.

The Watford thrower reached the second round of the sport's showpiece by beating Nobuhiro Yamamoto 3-0 in his debut at Alexandra Palace, but found Martin Schindler just too strong as he went down to a battling 3-1 defeat last night.

‘Smash’, who has reached a European Tour final and played in his first televised quarter-final at the World Grand Prix in 2022, tweeted: “Thank you to everyone that has supported me this year, I really do appreciate all of your messages! Back to some local competitions to keep the arm going!

“Myself and my wife Melanie would like to wish you all a magical Christmas and hope all your dreams come true.”

After losing the first set 3-2, Lukeman levelled the match by taking the second set by the same margin.

However, the German landed a superb 170 finish to win the third set, before taking the fourth to clinch his place in the third round.