Peter Wright and Gary Anderson silenced the Ally Pally crowd on New Year’s Day after the pair set up an all-Scottish semi-final at the World Darts Championship.
As the English fans in London’s darts cathedral chanted ‘Scotland get battered everywhere they go’, two of the home opposition were eliminated.
Anderson, a two-time World champion, booked his spot in the last four with a 5-2 win over 19th seed Luke Humphries.
After the game, Anderson told Sky Sports: “I’m not at my best yet”, but a 96.32 average was enough to have Scots dreaming of the highly-anticipated encounter.
‘The Flying Scotsman’ has dominated the English so far in his bid for a third world title. Adrian Lewis, Ian White, Rob Cross, and now Luke Humphries have all fallen short against the 51-year-old.
Wright then ensured the tie would take place as the World number two fought back from 4-3 down to edge 23-year-old Callan Rydz 5-4.
It wasn’t the first time ‘Snakebite’ found himself behind in the tournament. A comeback from 2 sets down against Australian Damon Heta was required in the last 32.
Wins against Ryan Meikle and Ryan Searle on either side of that means Wright’s path to Anderson has seen the 2020 World champion past three Englishmen himself.
English compatriots James Wade and Michael Smith will face-off in the other semi-final, resulting in a guaranteed Scotland v England final on Monday night.
Wade whitewashed Mervyn King 5-0 in the first quarter-final before Smith dethroned current World champion Gerwyn Price with a 5-4 win, despite the Welshmen’s 9-darter heroics.
Featured Image Credit: Live Darts
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