ANDY SMITH 4-3 RAY CARVER
(1-3, 3-2, 3-1, 1-3, 1-3, 3-2, 4-2)
ANDY SMITH came from behind to overcome American Ray Carver to move into round three of the Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship.
The qualifier from Warwickshire ended Colin Monk's hopes in the first round and then hit back to knock out Carver in a ding-dong battle.
Carver won the first set 3-1, before Smith hit back to take the next two and move ahead in the match.
American star Carver lifted his game and took the next two sets 3-1 but Smith hit three maximum 180's to level matters and take the game into a decider.
Carver moved himself 2-1 up, but Smith crucially won the fourth leg and then took out a 136 finish to move ahead before taking the sixth leg with a 96 checkout to seal victory.
"It was hard work, a lot harder than I expected," admitted Smith. "I didn't start well and found myself a set down.
"It was see-saw, it went 2-2 and then 3-2 to him and he was on a shot to win it but I took out 120. It was a real tough game.
"I was really happy with the way I controlled myself, played steady and let him make the mistakes.
"I've had some hard games in my career and that is one of the hardest.
"It's not very often you're on TV and playing for such big money - I've won £8,500 now. I cut logs for a living and I'd have to cut a lot at £50 a ton to earn that much!"
Match Stats
|
Ray Carver |
3-4 |
Andy Smith |
|
34 |
100+ |
43 |
|
20 |
140+ |
23 |
|
4 |
180 |
8 |
|
29.26 |
Ave1 |
29.74 |
|
87.78 |
Ave3 |
89.23 |