Anderson denied third World title at Ally Pally

Gerwyn Price won the William Hill World Darts Championship and became the new world number one after defeating Team Unicorn talisman Gary Anderson with an electrifying display in Sunday's final at London's Alexandra Palace, as the hope of a third World title for ‘The Flying Scotsman’, will run on for a year longer.

Price prevailed 7-3 with a dominant performance against two-time winner Anderson to lift the Sid Waddell Trophy, claim the £500,000 winner's cheque and become the first ever Welsh PDC World Champion.

Anderson missed four darts to take the opening set 3-0 and Price punished the Scot by claiming the next three legs to snatch an early advantage.

The Welshman took the first leg in set two, but a 180 followed by a 128 checkout sparked a three leg burst that saw Anderson level the match.

Price won the third set 3-1 with 12,13 and 14-dart legs, shrugging off a 170 checkout from Anderson, before finishes of 84 and 120 helped the former professional rugby player take set four by the same margin.

Checkouts of 83, 97 and 76 saw Price continue an incredible run of finishes to open up a three set lead.

He then produced the best set of darts in World Championship history when he took out 100 for an 11-dart leg, 161 for a 12-darter and double 12 to go out in ten darts, after missing the bed to complete a nine-darter - posting an astonishing set average of 136.64.

Back-to-back double top finishes saw Price take his success rate on that target to 13 landed from as many attempts, but when he finally missed the bed Anderson pounced to take the seventh set in a decider.

Price moved 6-2 ahead when he landed double top to win the fifth leg in set eight, before claiming the following two legs to move within a leg of glory - but he went on to miss nine match darts across two legs to allow Anderson to steal the set and stay in the contest.

The Scot punished Price for more missed doubles to make it five legs on the spin, but Price came from behind to claim the title on double five after Anderson had missed six darts to keep his hopes alive.

"Getting beat in the final is disappointing but I'll give myself a pat on the back for getting this far," said Anderson, who has moved up five places to eighth in the Order of Merit.

"What I've done over the last few weeks has been a big bonus for me. I started the final alright but I started to struggle and you can't do that against players like Gerwyn."