Alan Soutar’s Ally Pally fairy tale took another stunning turn as he beat world No7 Jose de Sousa to cruise into the last 16 of the PDC World Darts Championship.
Arbroath ace Soutar took the scalp of ‘The Special One’ de Sousa with a stunning 136 checkout after a gripping seven set clash to claim a £35,000 cheque.
Soots missed 45 doubles but showed incredible bottle to win it when it mattered most.
He will now face a Scotland-England clash against either Nathan Aspinall or Callan Rydz for a place in the quarter-finals at Alexandra Palace.
𝗦𝗨𝗣𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗔𝗥 𝗦𝗘𝗔𝗟𝗦 𝗜𝗧 𝗜𝗡 𝗦𝗧𝗬𝗟𝗘! 🧑🚒
Alan Soutar eliminates Jose de Sousa in a thrilling deciding set to secure his spot in the fourth round!
An incredible win for Soots 🤩#WHDarts pic.twitter.com/OGnTGjucpl
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 29, 2021
On paper, Portuguese star de Sousa was heavily fancied, but Dundee firefighter Soots is made of stern stuff.
His build-up to the game couldn’t have been more different to de Sousa’s.
While Jose spent Christmas in London with his family, Soutar worked a 30-hour stint at Dundee Kingsway East Fire Station.
He returned to London on Monday night to warm-up with 2018 World Champion Rob Cross and was in confident mood.
He sported his trademark red tartan trousers and a top with Arbroath FC and military pin badges as he took to stage.
And, once again, he came out to a chorus of boos and chants of ‘Scotland get battered everywhere they go.’
🎯 🏴 @soots180 walking onto the Ally Pally stage to chants of ‘Scotland get battered everywhere they go’ pic.twitter.com/08jICRizIp
— Ewan Smith (@ewansmithpr) December 29, 2021
Alan Soutar: Double trouble in first set
Soutar raced out of the traps and strode into a 2-0 leg lead in the first set.
He then suffered some double trouble as he missed several opportunities to take the opening set.
Soutar only converted two out of 20 doubles as de Sousa turned it around to win 3-2.
But Soots upped his game in the second set as he cruised to a 3-0 win to square it up.
Then he took out a 100 finish to go into a 2-1 lead on sets
That seemed to temporarily silence the crowd.
But ‘The Special One’ rediscovered his form in the fourth set to leave the match finely poised at 2-2.
Soutar was turning in a brave performance and he broke de Sousa’s opening throw of the fifth set with a stunning 104 check-out.
De Sousa polished up his finishing to break back.
And despite miscounting in the crucial fourth leg, the Portuguese edged the fifth to go one set away from winning.
Soutar was pulling off some big scores and won the third leg of the fifth set with a hat-trick of 140s.
But he lost it – and survived a match dart in the sixth set to take it to a deciding seventh.
Soutar was playing incredible darts and refused to lie down.
And when it mattered most, he held his nerve to hit back-to-back treble 20s and a double eight to win.
