BRENDAN Dolan won an Ally Pally classic against two-time champion Gary Anderson to progress to the quarter-finals of the PDC World Championships.
An edge-of-the-seat thriller swayed one way and then the other after Dolan, from Belcoo in Fermanagh, had settled quickly and eased into a two-set lead against the misfiring Scot. But after Dolan had missed an opportunity to go 3-0 up in the best of seven clash, Anderson seized control of the game, winning the third set and the next two to take a 3-2 lead.
It seemed that Dolan could be on his way out but the battling ‘History Maker’ dug his heels in and found another gear. His scoring steadily improved and he turned the tables on Anderson in the sixth to tie the match at three sets apiece and force a decider.
Dolan went into a 2-1 lead but missed two darts to win the match in the fourth leg. However, Anderson was unable to capitalise and the Erne county underdog hit the double three he needed to make the quarter-finals for only the second time in his career.
“I hit a double three to beat Michael Van Gerwen (in a previous tournament) so I said to myself: ‘Just go for it, just go for it’,” explained delighted Dolan afterwards.
“I was assertive, I went for it, I hit it, ohhhh… It was some game. I mentally collapsed when I was 2-0 up. I was wondering what was wrong with Gary and I fell into the trap that he wasn’t at it and he wasn’t going to be at it. Next thing he started to kick into gear, he started to come back and then he was ahead of me.
“I was thinking: ‘Don’t let this go, fight, at least fight - make him win it’. Next thing I got it back to three-all and I thought: ‘Right, it’s in the lap of the Gods’.”
Next up for Dolan is a quarter-final on New Year’s Day against 16-year-old sensation Luke Littler who continued his amazing run by beating Dutch legend Raymond Van Barneveld. He’ll go into the game as the underdog but, after taking out Anderson and 2021 champion Gerwyn Price, no-one will take him lightly.
“It was a very special win because I played one of the greats of the game,” he said.
“In my lifetime you have Gary, Phil (Taylor), ‘Barney’ (Raymond Van Barneveld), Peter Wright and Gerwyn is coming into the equation as the greatest of all time. Just to play them is an honour but to beat them in a big game…
“It’s not cockiness that I know I can beat any of them but I know I can do a job at any time against anybody.”