"Nice guy" John Henderson relieved at World Championship win

John Henderson has spoken of his relief at ending a poor streak at the PDC World Championship, after the 29th seed beat Marko Kantele 3-0. It was a fairly straightforward victory for the Highlander, but he admitted to SunSport that the win over the Finn meant a great deal to him. The Huntly ace has endured a terrible Ally Pally record, having lost in the first round in four of his five visits. In the other, in 2014, he was polished off by Mark Webster in the second round.
Henderson said: “Any win on this stage will do after my record here and I’m just delighted to get last year’s nightmare out of my system. That’s why I looked to the Gods after I won. I’m relieved more than anything."
In the 2017 Championships, Henderson led 2-0 against Andrew Gilding in the first round, only for Goldfinger to turn the tie around and win 3-2. He almost allowed Kantele to steal the first set, but a timely 160 checkout turned things his way. The Scandinavian thrower failed to threaten after that, with Henderson taking the spoils with considerable ease.
“I feel as if I played OK. I know Marko from the BDO days and I know he can do a lot better than that. I didn’t feel either of us got into our A game but I’ll take a win." the Scot surmised.
Victory means a rematch with Daryl Gurney, who knocked Henderson out in the World Grand Prix semi-finals in Dublin this summer. But the target is reaching the last 16 of the World Championship for the first time ever, rather than getting revenge.
He said: “I don’t look at any match as revenge on any player when I play Daryl Gurney in the next round, I’m a nice guy. But I’d love to get one over Daryl. He’s a good guy and he’s playing well so I’m looking forward to Saturday.
“It’ll be a great game like it was in the Grand Prix, the best man will win."
Henderson made headlines in the first round at the Grand Prix by defeating Michael van Gerwen - making him, so far, the only person in 2017 to knock the Dutchman out of a major tournament. With that massive scalp taken, the Scot says he can take plenty of confidence into his clash with world number four Gurney.
“I did get a lot of confidence from beating Michael van Gerwen. If you can’t get confidence from that you never will. I’m still the last person to beat him, it’s a nice record to have!" Henderson said.
“I didn’t play my best up there tonight and I’m sure Marko would say the same.
“But hopefully I can find my A game for Saturday because I’ll need to improve against Daryl because he’s playing very well.”
Henderson's tie with Gurney opens the evening session on December 23.
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