Phil 'The Power' Taylor was humiliated when he crashed out of the Senior Darts Championship

PHIL TAYLOR's final performance at the Circus Tavern – the scene of some of his greatest and most thrilling triumphs – has ended in defeat.

The Power, 63, is the best player to grace the oche and Essex's famous venue in Purfleet is where he won 11 of his record 16 world championships.

Yet his swan song year in the senior circuit – he will hang up his racing kit in November – started in frustrating fashion against an unknown rival.

Seventeen years after that final with Raymond van Barneveld, which was settled by a sudden death leg, Taylor was humiliated 3-2 by Manfred Bilderl in the first round of the Jennings Bet World Seniors Darts Championship.

The 56-year-old German, who speaks barely a word of English, may be a world champion with soft tips, but he is not exactly part of the arrow aristocracy.

And let's be honest: he's not someone who would have been good enough to tie Taylor's shoes over twenty years ago.

The way this loss happened – he averaged just 68.98 after the first two sets – must have hurt the GOAT big time.

Especially since he had come from two sets down to avoid a whitewash in straight sets to force the fifth-set decider.

The former world number 1 turned up to a hero's reception for his 9pm walk-on and fans chanted: 'There's only one Phil Taylor…'

It was just like old times, minus the smoky haze that was a permanent presence here before the 2007 smoking ban was introduced.

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The crowd was respectable throughout and the noise level was many, many decibels lower than the drunken behavior seen at the PDC stage events.

Still, that was as good as it got, as OAP pitcher Taylor failed to recapture the glory days, when he regularly averaged over 100 and struck fear across the sporting landscape.

The Elton John-style Farewell Tour, which ends in November, has started with a setback, but he hopes to improve his form and averages throughout the year.

He will then play the Jennings Bet WSDT Champion of Champions in Blackpool next month.

Then it's the World Matchplay in York in October, followed by the final, the World Masters in Sunderland, in nine months.

Taylor will not hang up his arrows for good, as he plans to participate in lucrative exhibitions from 2025.

But in terms of competition, he's running out of time to remind everyone how brilliant he used to be.