TWO-TIME world champion Gary Anderson came through a winner-takes-all clash with fellow Somerset player Ryan Searle to reach the last 16 of the Grand Slam of Darts tournament.
Both players had one win and one defeat from their opening two matches in Group B, with Burnham-on-Sea resident Anderson kicking off against Czech player Adam Gawlas.
The Scot was not at his best, and followed his 5-3 win with something of a tirade in front of the TV cameras.
Anderson has been nursing a knee injury and has played little in recent weeks, and after the match he told Sky: “It’s nice to play darts, you get players snarking in your ear, every time you throw and it always seems to come from the same team, then it gets on your nerves a bit.
“Would I pull out? Yeah, because darts isn’t darts anymore. You need to have a word with everyone that watches darts. They call it gamesmanship, I call it cheating."
Gary Anderson was *NOT* a happy man after his victory! 😡😬 pic.twitter.com/CqJWtOdMpp
— Sky Sports Darts (@SkySportsDarts) November 16, 2020
The Burnham man then suffered a 5-1 humbling at the hands of Simon Whitlock on Tuesday, who had beaten Wellington's Searle 5-3 the day before.
Searle kept his hopes alive by edging past Gawlas, 5-4, to set up a decisive match with Anderson on Wednesday.
Anderson is clearly still hampered by his knee injury, but he produced his best display of the tournament so far to win a high-quality match 5-3.
That was despite a 102 average from Searle, as Anderson produced an average just under 100 himself.
He began with a brilliant 111 finish to start the match, but Searle kept himself alive at 4-3 with an 11-dart leg.
Yet it was Anderson who had the last word, with a 119 check-out on the bullseye securing himself a place in the second round.
👇 Here's your answer, what a performance from Gary Anderson.
— Sky Sports Darts (@SkySportsDarts) November 18, 2020
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Taunton’s Justin Pipe is out, after losing all three of his matches in Group D.
Pipe went down 5-1 against Rob Cross, before a closer match against Luke Humphries (5-4), and he finished with a 5-2 defeat to Dave Chisnall.
The event’s last 16 ties take place over Friday, November 20, and Saturday, November 21, and the quarter-finals on Sunday, November 22.
The semi-finals follow on Monday, November 23, with the final from 6pm on Tuesday, November 24.
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