Two darts players from Sheppey crashed out of the Blue Square UK Open in the first round on Thursday.

Pub qualifiers Geoff Harkup and Paul McDine failed to reach the lucrative latter stages of the competition after losing to Tony Mitchell and Paul Cooper respectively.

Harkup suffered a heavy 6-1 defeat while McDine lost 6-4.

The event took place at Bolton's Reebok Stadium.

** See this Thursday's Times Guardian for the full story.