Two Hampshire men will come face-to-face on the world’s most famous darts stage this afternoon.

Scott Mitchell from Bransgore will take on his friend Paul Hogan, who comes from the other end of the county at Basingstoke, in the Lakeside World Darts Championships, writes Clive Downton.

The round 1 match will be the first game this year for landscape gardener Mitchell, left, who is seeded 15, while it is match number two for warehouse worker Hogan who beat Karel Sedlacek of the Czech Repubic in a preliminary game yesterday.

It is the seventh time Hogan – who plays county darts for Berkshire after several years with Hampshire – has been involved at famous Frimley Green.

He reached the quarter-finals in 1995 and 2006.

Mitchell, who represents Dorset in the British Inter County League, won his first game at the Lakeside last year, his fourth attempt, before losing out in round 2.