Ted Hankey won the BDO World Championship title for the second time when he beat Tony O'Shea 7-6 in the final at the Lakeside.
Former champ recovers from 12th set wobble
Ted Hankey won the BDO World Championship title for the second time when he beat Tony O'Shea 7-6 in the final at the Lakeside Country Club.
Hankey - who won the title in 2000 - missed seven darts for the match in the 12th set but somehow recovered his composure to win the decider 3-1.
O'Shea struggled for consistency after winning the first set and was always playing catch-up after going in 4-2 behind at the break.
Hankey bounced back from losing the opening set 3-2 to take the second 3-1 and, with O'Shea's accuracy on the doubles starting to desert him, hit a 123 checkout to go 2-0 up in the third, which he wrapped up for a 2-1 overall lead.
A 111 checkout in the second leg of the fourth set then helped Hankey to a 3-1 advantage.
O'Shea's thrilling semi-final win over fellow Stockport man Darryl Fitton looked like it had taken its toll on the 'Silverback', as he struggled to reproduce the form he had shown in that 6-4 victory.
But he was handed a lifeline when Hankey spurned three chances to close out the fifth set, allowing O'Shea to level it up at 2-2.
And the 47-year-old then nailed double top to take the set against the darts and reduce the deficit to 3-2.
Cushion
Hankey, though, took out 98 in two darts to move 2-1 ahead in sixth set and held his nerve to re-establish his two-set cushion at the break.
O'Shea's game started to come together after the interval and, after dropping the opening leg of the seventh set, he levelled it up with a 14-dart finish and rattled off the next two legs, as Hankey started to suddenly look shaky on the doubles.
A 13-dart opening leg gave a rejuvenated O'Shea the advantage in the next set, but Hankey dug deep to halt the shift in momentum and move 5-3 ahead.
But the 'Silverback' would simply not lie down and he hit another 14 darter in the decisive fifth leg of the ninth set to close the gap again.
Pressure
The pressure looked to be telling as O'Shea slipped into 13 when he had three darts at double four and Hankey cashed in to take a 2-0 lead in set 10, which he closed out to move to within one set of the title.
But Hankey then wobbled alarmingly.
He had two darts for the match at 2-1 up in the 11th set, but inexplicably missed a 12, which would have set up a double top finish, and O'Shea
levelled before holding his throw to make it 6-5.
The 'Count' missed another double for the title when 2-0 up in the next set and six more darts went begging at 2-2 before O'Shea levelled the match at 6-6.
Hankey was not to be denied, though, as he finally hit the double 10 to take the title for the second time.
