NICK Kenny has described being paired with top seed and tournament favourite Glen Durrant in the first round of the BDO World Darts Championship as “the worst possible draw”.

Cwmbran’s Kenny will make his competition debut at the Lakeside in January, 12 months after Englishman Durrant lost to eventual champion Scott Waites in the quarter-finals.

Durrant, whose best championship performance came in 2015 when he reached the last four, showed at the weekend he is in good shape heading to Frimley Green in Surrey.

The 46-year-old from Middlesbrough retained his Winmau World Masters crown on Sunday with a 6-3 defeat of Mark McGeeney.

Kenny has played Durrant on several occasions in the past but never beaten him, although he did come close at last year’s British Classic, only to lose out in a final-set decider.

Reacting to the draw for the worlds, which start on January 7, Kenny said: “It’s the worst possible draw, but if I’m going to do well in the tournament I will have to beat him.

“I’m up for it and I’m not scared of facing him, and there’s a lot of pressure on him being the favourite – he’s been the favourite before and never made the final.

“I played Glen at the Welsh Open when I was 17 or 18 and did really well, but he won that one 3-0, and then I played against him in an international in 2014.

“He beat me 4-1 that time and was named man of the tournament at the end of it.

“I think I was 3-1 up against him in the British Classic last year and lost 4-3.”

While Durrant is 7/4 with some bookmakers to win the event, Kenny, whose Winmau World Masters campaign lasted just one match, can be backed at 80/1 to go all the way.