REIGNING champion Raymond van Barneveld was sent crashing out of the Las Vegas Desert Classic last night.

Barney’s nightmare run of form continued as Alan Tabern comfortably beat the five-times world champion 8-4.

It is now a year since the Dutch Destroyer won his last major tournament, which was in Vegas.

But for Merseysider The Saint Tabern it was a massive victory and he admitted: “This is the biggest win of my career.

“I kept scoring well and finishing consistently which you have to against the big players – you can’t give them an inch.

“And then I managed to hold my composure when it mattered at the end to win the tie. It’s an awesome night for me.”

Tabern faces Peter Manley in the quarter-finals after ‘One Dart’ knocked out another big name Adrian Lewis 8-6. Terry Jenkins was another top seed exit, also losing 8-6 to Roland Scholten .

But there were no problems for Phil Taylor and James Wade who made light work of their opponents to qualify for tonight’s quarters. Taylor beat Dennis Priestley 8-4 while Wade defeated Mark Walsh 8-5.