Scott Mitchell overcame a major hurdle to move into the second round of the Lakeside World Darts Championship on Saturday when he won a nailbiting sudden death play-off leg.

The landscape gardener from Bransgore on the edge of the New Forest defeated three times finalist Tony O’Shea in a gripping clash on the famous Frimley Green oche.

It took a single leg of 501 to split the two Englishmen on the opening day of the tournament, with fourth seed Mitchell quickly cancelling out first-throw advantage of his opponent to move into round 2.

O’Shea was one of the favourites to lift the crown despite not featuring in the top 16 after a below par performance on the circuit over the last season.

The man of Stoke showed just how dangerous he can be by taking the first set but Mitchell, nicknamed Scotty Dog, was soon snapping at his heels to get back to 1-1 before a short interval – to allow adverts on BT Sport who are now sharing coverage with the BBC.

Mitchell, who is making his sixth successive appearance, said: “That’s the first time I have had a break for the TV adverts and it came at the wrong time as I was bossing the set.

“When we came back Tony hit a couple of back-to-back 180s but I got back into it with some good finishes.”

Mitchell hit three- ton-plus game shots on the bounce as the captivating tussle see-sawed. At two sets each, and five legs apiece in the fifth, the match went to a ‘sudden’death’ leg with O’Shea winning nearest the bull for first throw.

However his game deserted him at the wrong time and a ton and a couple of 140s helped Mitchell into round two where he meets the winner of the match between Holland’s Remco van Eijden and Geert De Vos of Belgium.

Mitchell added: “Tony was pretty gutted when we talked afterwards but he is ever the gentleman and shook me by the hand and said that I deserved to win it.”