Willy extinguishes hopes of fireman Soutar 3-1

Flying Dutchman Willy van de Wiel extinguished the hopes of Scots fireman Alan Soutar 3-1 in an absorbing 44-minute encounter.

The 28-year-old from Rijen in the south west part of the Netherlands, displayed gritty determination to battle back from 1-0 down, hitting four 180s to take charge of the first round clash.

The Dutch player who was a member of the 2009 Netherlands World Cup winning squad seemed unfazed by the fast-throwing Soutar who was making his Lakeside debut.

Afterwards he admitted: “It was not a good match for me and I need to play a lot better in my next match. Alan played well considering it was his first appearance here at Lakeside.”

The 32-year-old who plays for the Fisherman’s Inn in Arbroath and is a member of the Angus county team swept to the opening set 3-0 in just eight minutes as the Dutchman struggled to settle.

But the orange-shirted 28-year-old Dutch carpenter turned the screw in the next as he defended his throwing advantage to level the match.

Soutar led the third but the man from the Low Countries levelled and then hit two 180s as he finished in 11 darts to move into a 2-1 lead. But Van de Wiel failed to nail home the advantage when he hit bull and single 19 to bust his required 61. The Scot coolly exited on double six but the Dutchman wrapped up the set for a 2-1 match lead with double 12.

Throwing first in the fourth set the Dutch sharpshooter blasted in a 180 and although Soutar took the next leg, Van de Wiel fired in double tops to move within one leg of victory as the shell-shocked Scot watched in desperation.

The Dutchman, displaying no sign of emotion as Soutar missed a match-saving double tops, needed just two darts to wrap up the game with single nine, double eight for a match-winning average a shade under 29 per dart.