Alan Soutar admits the Alexandra Palace oche can be a ‘lonely place’ when you are Scottish and losing in front of 3,000 jeering English fans.
But home is where the heart is for the Angus star, who is fiercely proud of Arbroath.
He has felt an outpouring of love from his hometown during his PDC World Darts Championship journey so far.
And after producing one of the most dramatic comebacks ever at Ally Pally, the journey isn’t over.
Soutar, known as Soots, was two sets and two legs down to Austrian world number 26 Mensur Suljovic, who missed a staggering EIGHT match darts on Thursday.
But as Soots’ thoughts began to wander towards consecutive Christmas night shifts as a Dundee firefighter, he showed incredible resolve to battle back.
𝗦𝗢𝗢𝗧𝗦 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗦 𝗜𝗧 𝗜𝗡 𝗦𝗧𝗬𝗟𝗘!
Alan Soutar produces the most magnificent of match winning finishes, pinning D12 for a huge 144 checkout and he defeats Mensur Suljovic in a tie-breaker!
Soots survived EIGHT match darts and he's into Round Three!#WHDarts pic.twitter.com/YAfQznfGFo
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 23, 2021
Soots believes the love of his family, manager Paul, brother Garry and sponsor Graeme Gersok from The Townhouse Hotel in Arbroath inspired him to victory.
As did a pre-match FaceTime call to his dogs, Tasha and Disco, as friends Ally and Leza Begg looked after them in Arbroath.
“I felt I was absolutely buried,” said Soutar. “Dead and buried.
“I felt lonely up there.
“I was on an 82 average and down 2-0 in sets and 2-0 in legs. You are looking about and wondering: ‘What’s happening?’
“From somewhere I dug in and got to the next level.
“I genuinely thought: ‘I’m done,’ and was going home but now I’m not.
“You are on your own out there. I reckon there were six people from Scotland in the crowd.
“Out of 3,000 people that’s crazy. The rest were all English and cheering against me.
Alan Soutar: Inspired by support from family and friends
Feeling the love from @ArbroathFC 😍🇱🇻 #togetherness @ewansmithpr @Big5SportsMana1 pic.twitter.com/IClCJY5gA2
— Alan Soutar (@soots180) December 22, 2021
“I could see Amanda (partner), Logan (step son) and Paul my manager on one side. On the other, I could see my brother Garry and sponsor ‘G’.
“They kept me going.
“I also tried to block out the rest of the crowd.
“When you are on stage hearing songs against Scotland it can be hard.
“But I trained with Rob Cross, the world number 10, and his advice was priceless. He told me to block out the noise.
“I don’t want to be a clown who is being booed by the crowd.
“I want to work to get some of the fans on MY side.
“If you are going up to an oche for a match dart, the booing can only go up to a certain level.
“If you wait a few seconds, it takes a little bit of the edge off it and I know that back home people ARE supporting me.
“The support from Arbroath is amazing. No amount of money can buy that love.
“I’ve got friends friends who have been looking after the dogs. I got to Facetime Tasha and Disco.
“I know it sounds weird that I was Facetiming dogs but there you go!
“I’m home for a few days but I’ll be back and I know Arbroath will be buzzing!”
