World Darts Championship: Day 6 Afternoon - Crazy tie-break match sees 19 missed darts - 180UK.com
Darts News Darts Writers PDC World Championships Stan Ashcroft

World Darts Championship: Day 6 Afternoon – Crazy tie-break match sees 19 missed darts

17 December 2025
Tom Sansom

By Stan Ashcroft

The PDC World Darts Championship day six afternoon session at Alexandra Palace, featured all sorts of drama and showmanship. Two players made their Ally Pally debuts, as the crowed were treated to some stunning performances.

MATCH 1: Alan Soutar v Teemu Harju

Alan Soutar is a man of many talents. As a firefighter by trade, and a guide dog trainer in his spare time, ‘Soots’ made his fourth appearance in the World Darts Championship. His opponent was debutant, Teemu Harju, who featured for Iceland in the World Cup of Darts earlier this year.

Harju opened the match with three perfect darts, but only scored nine on his third visit. This foreshadowed a rollercoaster game of up and downs. With a total of 19 missed match darts, both players struggled to hit their crucial doubles.

In the first and second sets, Soutar played some exceptional darts and punished Harju’s mistakes, whitewashing his opponent across both sets. He claimed the first set with two tonne-plus checkouts and an averaged a score of 110. The Finnish debutant clinched his first three legs in the third set, as Soutar struggled with treble-less visits.

The man from Arbroath then astonishingly missed TEN match darts for the fourth set, as Harju turned the game around and took the game all the way to the fifth. Both players battled to hold their throw as Harjur did enough to make it the first game of the 2026 World Championships which cased the match to go all the way to a tie-break.

The tie-break was a perfect reflection of the match as Harju won the first leg and then had four match darts to win the match. But Soutar didn’t give up, as chants of ‘Scotland get battered everywhere they go’ rang round Ally Pally, he climbed back to win the next two legs.

There were then another five missed match darts for Soutar, taking the Scotsman to 15 in total (the record is currently 18, set by John Part). Harju won the leg to send the game to sudden death for the final leg, with the Finnish debutant holding the advantage of the opening throw.

With back to back treble-less visits for Harju, Soutar capitalised with a 139 to leave the Scot on a 170. Thankfully for him, there were no more missed darts as he was able to win this marathon match with his final five darts.

Result: Alan Soutar 3*v 3 Teemu Haaju (*Soutar won 6-5 in tie-break)

MATCH 2: Nick Kenny v Justin Hood

Welshman, Nick Kenny, took on the Barney Army last year in the World Darts Championship as he sent home Raymond Van Barneveld and made it to the third round. This year, debutant Justin Hood was his first opponent. Nicknamed ‘Happy Feet’, Hood made his first Ally Pally walkout wearing a penguin bucket hat!

Justin Hood held his throw and breezed the opening set, not allowing Kenny to have any opportunities at a double. He threw three 180s in the opening leg, averaging 107.

The high quality darts continued as Kenny picked up the pace to break Hood’s throw straight away in the second set. However, ‘Happy Feet’ broke back again in the fifth leg to build on his lead and made it 2-0.

Set three continued with more breaks of throw, as both players picked up legs against their opponent. The Englishman went onto win legs three and four, as Hood hit four perfect darts and fittingly broke Kenny’s throw to win the game.

The left-handed thrower won straight sets on his debut and danced into round two – facing either Danny Noopert or Z who play Wednesday evening. A much quicker, and straight forward game than the afternoon’s opening match!

Result: Nick Kenny 0 v 3 Justin Hood

MATCH 3: Scott Williams v Paolo Nebrida

Scott Williams re-entered the World Championships after his third round exit last year, often overshadowed by his sensational run to the semi-final in the 2024. ‘Shaggy’ played Paolo Nebrida who hails from the Phillipines. This was Nebrida’s fourth World Championship, and he proved on numerous occasions before the game, that he was than capable of beating big hitters.

Nebrida opened the game with a hold of throw and narrowly missed a double for a 140 checkout. Williams broke Paolo ‘Pow’ Nebrida’s throw with an 11-darter demonstrating his swagger on the Ally Pally stage. He won his third leg to win the set, with an average of 102 and 100% accuracy on his checkouts.

The Filipino was playing well with an average of 101 going into the second set, but Williams continued to punish his opponent with some ruthless finishing and taking advantage of Nebrida’s missed doubles.

William’s dominance took the wind out of Nebrida’s performance as he opened the leg with an average below 70. ‘Shaggy’ stormed ahead to win a total of eight consecutive legs, before Nebrida composed himself to hold throw. But that was as much as Williams let him off with. ‘Shaggy’s’ showmanship shone through as he threw a ‘no-look’ 180 and casually won the game in true Williams fashion, finishing with a double double checkout.

Result: Scott Williams 3 v 0 Paolo Nebrida

MATCH 4: Chris Dobey v Xiaochen Zong

Last year’s semi-finalist Chris Dobey enters the competition as eight seed. The Geordie faced Xiaochen Zong from China in round one. The Chinese premier league winner, nicknamed ‘the Pandaman’, has never won a match in the World Darts Championships as he entered his fifth year.

Zong opened his account with a 180, but didn’t take full advantage as Dobey held throw. With a close 160 checkout attempt from Zong in the second leg, he was one bullseye away from a 60, bull, bull. Dobey continued to power on, won the leg in his next visit, and then comfortably won the third to complete the first set.

‘Hollywood’ won 4 straight legs before Zong was able to break his throw and made it one each in the second set. Dobey responded with six perfect darts, but Zong was still able to hold throw and create some momentum. Both players really struggled to finish the leg but Zong won it after 24 darts, to pull it back to 1-1.

In the third set, Zong was able to hold his throw on one occasion, but Dobey exercised his capabilities and stormed ahead to win the match. He struggled to hit his doubles as Zong put up a valiant performance. Dobey won the final set 3-1 edging ahead in each leg.

 It must have felt a long game for Chris Dobey, as it was not a Hollywood performance by any means. He will play Andrew Gilding next in the second round, and will hope to improve on his first round efforts.

Result: Chris Dobey 3 v 1 Xiaochen Zong

AS IT HAPPENS: 2025/26 PDC WORLD DARTS CHAMPIONSHIPS

EDITORS PICKS