Colchester darts ace Colin Lloyd says attending the World Grand Prix will rekindle happy memories of his first-ever major triumph.

The former world number one – nicknamed Jaws - enjoyed a maiden tournament success in the Professional Darts Corporation event back in 2004, when he beat Alan Warriner 7-3 in the final at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin to lift the title.

It helped set Lloyd on their way to an impressive professional career in the sport, which saw him to go on to win the World Matchplay title the following year along with achieving plenty of success on the PDC circuit.

Lloyd, who is currently playing exhibition matches, will return to the venue of his glorious triumph this weekend to watch this year’s World Grand Prix, which gets underway on Sunday.

And the 43-year-old from Great Horkesley, who has just recovered from a bout of sepsis, says it was a memorable time for him in his professional career.

Lloyd told the Daily Gazette: “It was an unbelievable feeling and I remember just dropping to my knees when I won – it felt and I was over the moon.

“It was a great tournament back then and it still is now.

“I went into the tournament having just got to World number one. I’d been in a lot of Opens but never in a major final.

“People were saying at the time ‘how can he be World number one but never reached a major final?’”

“So it was very nice to put that kind of talk to bed and all of a sudden, I got the recognition, because I’d won my first major final.

“I was a bit jittery at first but I managed to reach my first ever major final and by the end of the week, I’d won it.”

Lloyd defeated Denis Ovens, Dennis Smith, Gary Welding and Ronnie Baxter to progress to the final, where he took on Warriner.

“Phil Taylor lost in the first round and all of a sudden, I was favourite,” added former builder Lloyd, who has recently been working for Healey Tool Hire in Colchester.

“I didn’t really know how I’d feel in the final. My opponent Alan Warriner had previously won the event in 2000 but I was in a really good place.

“I remember Eric Bristow coming up to me beforehand and asking me how I was feeling.

“He patted me on the back and said ‘you have this in the bag’.

“Never at one point in the final did I feel it was out of my control.

“If you go into it with the wrong attitude, you might as well not bother going.I wasn’t there for a jolly up – I was there to win.”