IT IS TIME TO HEND A POOR RUN

JOHN HENDERSON is eyeing a run at the William Hill World Championships to stop him snapping and snarling at his own Christmas crackers.

The Highlander gets going at the Alexandra Palace tonight against Marko Kantele (below) desperate not to have to sit through another depressing big-day dinner.

In five attempts at the PDC showpiece, Henderson has never made it beyond Christmas Day.

The Huntly hero has had to sit suffering during the festivities and admits it got so bad one time he even started getting aggressive at the decorative crackers on his own table.

Henderson laughed: “You are at a stage when you are pulling the cracker and then snarling at it.

“Normally, it is just the one game before Christmas, but everyone has two this year.

“You need to get a couple of wins to enjoy your turkey. This is my sixth World Championships and I have never once managed to get beyond Christmas Day.

“The one time I beat Dave Chisnall in the first round, there were only one night of second round games before Christmas Day and I was scheduled to play in one of them.

“Needless to say, I lost to Mark Webster and it wasted the day again.

“Everyone is supportive within the family and it is not a case of everyone sitting around the table with long faces and being grumpy, but you do get irritated.”

Arguably, last year’s demise was the worst.

Henderson was coasting against Andrew Gilding in the opening round before a stunning fightback from his rival made him The Grinch again.

He admitted: “I don’t want to go through what I went through there. That was the lowest of the low.

“I could have given up right there and then.”