"I haven't been in a good place mentally" - Steve Lennon admits he almost pulled out of Ally Pally due to mental health struggles before stunning comeback win over Owen Bates

With a fabulous comeback, Steve Lennon has progressed to the second round at the World Darts Championships and in the process, boosted his hopes of retaining his Tour Card.

"That win meant a lot to me. I haven't been in a good place mentally coming into this so I didn't know what to expect form-wise," Lennon admits in his post-match press conference. "The stage is a hard place to be when you're not in the right headspace but I think, when I was 2-0 down, I relaxed a bit. That's the beauty of set play, I just didn't look at the overall score, just treated it as if it was 0-0 and forgot about the last two sets. Experience paid off in the end I think."

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Steve Lennon masters Bates with stunning comeback from 2-0 down to reach the second round at the World Darts Championship

Despite showing incredible heart to fightback from 2-0 down, Lennon's mental health issues were so bad, he almost didn't turn up. "I was even thinking about pulling out of this a while ago," says the Irishman. "I watched the first night and it gave me that buzz so I'm glad I played now."

As mentioned, Lennon is one of the players fighting for more than just wins as his Tour Card is on the line. "I haven't been looking at it but I knew I needed a good run in this so I this is massive for me," he assesses. "I've been trying not to think about because obviously you want to do well at this tournament regardless of the Tour Card situation."

Up next for 'Scuba Steve' is Jonny Clayton. "I've got two or three days off now so I'm just going to relax, get a bit of practice at the hotel and just treat it the same as I did with this one," Lennon previews. "I don't expect him to play badly. I expect him to be on top form. If he isn't then that's good for me, but if I can just play my own game then you never know what happens."

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