TERRY Jenkins suffered two narrow defeats by world champion Phil Taylor at the weekend.

The Ledbury darts ace reached the final of the Blue Square UK Open South-East Regional Final yesterday and the last eight of the Brentwood Players Championship on Saturday.

Jenkins, who defeated Mervyn King 8-5 in the Whyte & Mackay Premier League last Thursday, was edged out 6-4 by Taylor to finish runner-up on Sunday.

‘The Bull’ had chances to defeat Taylor and pushed the Stoke star all the way, clawing his way back from 3-1 behind to level at 4-4.

Taylor then hit scores of 180 and 177 in a 12-darter to lead 5-4 and sealed victory in the next with another 12-dart finish.

Jenkins punished two missed match darts from Mark Dudbridge to win their semi-final 6-5 and thrashed Robbie Parker 6-1 in the quarter-final.

He beat Tony Eccles 6-4 in the fourth round and overcame King for the second time in a week to win their third round encounter 6-3. Jenkins also saw off Justin Pipe (6-3) and Russell Mason (6-0).

On Saturday, Jenkins was edged out 6-5 by Taylor in the quarter-finals after victories over Colin Osborne (6-2), Jamie Caven (6-3), Chris Thompson (6-4) and Alan Caves (6-0).