I was rotten, says former Borderer Gary Anderson after World Darts Championship knockout

Gary Anderson looking as if he can't believe his eyes during his round-four loss to Brendan Dolan on Saturday at the latest World Darts Championship at London's Alexandra Palace (Photo by Tom Dulat/Getty Images)

The 53-year-old’s hopes of securing a third world title at London’s Alexandra Palace were dashed by a 4-3 fourth-round loss to Northern Ireland’s Brendan Dolan on Saturday.

It wasn’t just his exit from the Professional Darts Corporation event that disappointed Anderson, now living in Somerset, but also the way he went out, scoring just five with three darts at one point.

East Lothian-born Anderson is now looking to bounce back from a performance he slammed as an embarrassment he’s at a loss to explain, saying: “I was rotten.

“I was lucky to get a few darts to push it all the way, but it was my own fault. I was lucky to stay in the game.

“For the first two sets, my head and arm were not working together. I was miles off.

“They were sliding out of my hand. My throw in the practice room was great, but down there I could not grip my darts, nothing. That got me done.

“I got to 3-2 and I started throwing darts low again. Once they start going low, my head goes.

“All day long, I was throwing a nice angle. Up there I was absolutely all over the place.

“These things happen. That got my head going. I don’t know what the heck went on.

“There were some really bad darts. It was embarrassing.

“Onto next year – new year, new start.”

Saturday’s dismissal by County Fermanagh’s Dolan, 50, means Anderson will have to wait another year to vie for a hat-trick after his previous world title wins in 2015 and 2016.

Anderson’s route to the last 16 of the championship consisted of a 3-0 second-round win against Australian Simon Whitlock on Saturday, December 16, and 4-1 round-three knockout of Croatian Boris Krcmar last Friday.

Rotten was also how Anderson, nicknamed the Flying Scotsman, described his performances in 2019 and 2020 despite making it to the world championship’s semi-finals and helping Scotland win the PDC World Cup of Darts in Germany for the first time in the former, saying at the end of the latter: “This year has been absolutely rotten and so was the year before, but not as bad as this year.”