“It’s the last thing I expected" - Andrew Gilding stuns himself by dispatching Luke Littler in European Championship opening round

Andrew Gilding pulled off the shock of the opening round on Friday night at the 2024 European Championship. 'Goldfinger' defeated Luke Littler 6-3 and now meets home crowd favourite Ricardo Pietreczko in the second round in Dortmund.

Gilding led from the start pinning a 76 checkout and then continued from there with double 10 for 2-0. The misery continued for Littler with Gilding hitting a 79 checkout to go halfway to the finish. Littler finally got a leg on the board 3-1 and reduced it to 3-2 with a 72 checkout. Littler hit double 10 to make it 3-3. Gilding hit an 83 checkout to make it 4-3. Gilding led at 5-4 on double 20. 'Goldfinger' then sealed the win with a 47 checkout on double 20.

“It’s the last thing I expected really, especially with the way Luke has played lately," Gilding admitted in his post-match press conference afterwards, as stunned by his success as anyone.

Gilding was one of the first players to feel the full force of the Luke Littler train at the Alexandra Palace last December, so to gain a modicum of revenge just 10 months later is a sweet feeling for Goldfinger. “It’s the third time I’ve played Luke, and tonight it was a case of third time lucky!" Gilding smiles. “This is a huge win for me. I was thinking about my flight home tomorrow to be honest, but maybe that helped me to relax!”

Whilst Littler losing is always considered a shock in the modern game, it's disrespectful to Gilding to call it a complete upset. A former UK Open champion, the Englishman has defeated notable names such as Michael van Gerwen, Peter Wright, Rob Cross and Gary Anderson in TV majors over the last couple of years. If he's to lift a second major title this weekend in Dortmund though, he must next overcome the crowd and Ricardo Pietreczko.