Monday 5 January 2015 10:05, UK
Gary Anderson paid tribute to the Alexandra Palace crowd after winning a thrilling PDC World Championship final 7-6 against Phil Taylor.
It was the Scot’s maiden title, but he did it the hard way, seeing ‘The Power’ fight back from 3-1 and then 6-4 down to level it up.
At 4-4, Anderson showed his mettle when two incidents threatened to derail him. Having landed his first two arrows in the treble 20, his third made it a 180 – only for all three darts to fall out of the board.
Then he was angered by the behaviour of a fan - and showed it. But he recovered his poise to fight back from 2-0 down in legs to win the set 3-2, moving Sky Sports commentator Wayne Mardle to say it was the finest three legs of darts he had even seen in a final.
At 6-6 the Scot powered his way to the title, winning the set 3-0, a double 12 clinching the victory.
It’s not sunk in yet, it will probably take a few days to. Every dog has its day and this is my day.
“It’s not sunk in yet, it will probably take a few days to. Every dog has its day and this is my day,” he said.
“Over the last three days the crowd have been absolutely fantastic for a Scotsman in London. I’ll hold my hands up. There was a niggle tonight but they got caught out and sent home.
"(They were whistling) every time I was throwing and going for a big one. It’s not nice because we’re up there trying to play well. I mean, I’m up there trying to play Phil Taylor and I was just to play well against him and that happens.
“I’m a proud Scotsman and always have been. I live in Somerset now which is a great place but I’m a Scottish man and I get on with anyone. It doesn’t matter where you come from or who you are and I think we should all start doing that as well.
“You panic from the word go when you’re playing Phil Taylor. You panic the whole game because you know at any moment he can turn it on. One minute you’re going great and the next he’s hitting 180, 180, treble…
“This one is for Eric Bristow! I’ve had 40-odd darts at double 12 and I’ve caught it once. I said to him today I’m going to do this on double 12 - and I did.”
Anderson admitted his defeat to the eventual champion Michael van Gerwen in the third round last year had given him extra motivation to return to Ally Pally and win the title.
“I don’t get upset when I lose a game of darts. But Michael done me over last year and I was as sick as a pig to be quite honest. I was fuming and that’s not me,” he said.
And Anderson revealed he would be celebrating his title not with wild parties, but a spot of home improvement.
“I’m going to have a few days off and then I’m going to get the tool belt on and do a bit of DIY - that’s what I’ve got planned,” he said.
