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MICHAEL Smith has enjoyed an outstanding year ­— runner up in the Premier League, winning the Shanghai Masters and missing five darts to be denied the World Series ­— but he wants to finish it with a world title.

The Clock Face-based thrower, who was due to play Dutch talent Ron Meulenkamp in round two tonight, has his sights set on winning the prestigious William Hill World Darts Championship.

On-form, motivated and practising well, Smith has nothing to fear if he brings his game to Alexandra Palace.

He said: “If you can’t get up for the Worlds then you need to stop playing - it is what you practise all year for. I want to be the World Champion.”

Smith was knocked out last year by eventual champion Rob Cross after missing chances to win that, but was philosophical about that loss.

“Rob had his name written all over that ­— and even Michael van Gerwen missed eight darts to beat him.

“If Rob had thrown his darts backwards, I’d have still missed. If it is your time then it is meant to be,” he said.

Smith started the year in fine form, blasting his way through all the game’s top stars in the biggest arenas in the Premier League.

And he admits he was motivated by a Twitter critic, who was eventually made to eat his words.

“This one person kept putting something critical on there, but it kept me going - just to shut him up for another week,” he said.

And that form carried on - and he went all the way to the final where he eventually lost to van Gerwen at London’s O2 Arena.

There has been a growing maturity from Smith, a father to two young boys, and that seems to help him deal with missing doubles that provoked a different response in the past.

He said: “Every time I have a disappointment I have always come back stronger.

“At the end of the day I could could get run over tomorrow and break my arm and my career would be over.

“There is more to life than throwing a dart.

“I have grown up - I have two boys, and am getting married in January ­— I am not a kid any more.

“These days I throw my tantrums when I am practising at my dad’s pub (St Anne’s) and missing doubles.”

The darts is certainly in the Smith blood, and he speaks with pride when he talks of of his oldest boy Michael Junior hitting his first 180, despite being three months short of his fifth birthday.

"He loves it and ever since he could crawl he's been throwing.

"He started by throwing the stems and flights - and when I could finally trust him he got his first set of darts when he was just under three.

"He gets home from school and is straight into the games room to practise. He loves it. He hit his first 180 on a proper 7ft 9 throw - oven if the board was lower, it was still the same distance as the pros," he said.

Ahead of tonight, his last bit of anxiety went with number three seed Peter Wright’s exit.

“I was anxious about being the first seed out ­— but that pressure has gone. I am going there confident that if I bring my own game I will walk it,” he said.