"Same as the football isn't it, it's always about England" - Scotland happy to fly under the radar at World Cup of Darts

Scotland qualified exceptionally easily for the quarter-finals of the World Cup of Darts. Peter Wright and Gary Anderson were far too strong for Poland in the last sixteen, taking an 8-2 victory.

Sparkling it certainly wasn't, but with an average of 89 and a 47 percent finish percentage, it was just a steady first performance from the former world champions. Wright missed one chance at double 16 to make it 6-0, then Szaganski managed to secure the first Polish leg with a 74 finish. Two 18-darters later put Scotland up 7-2. Anderson then secured a spot in the quarterfinals by notching a 74 checkout.

"Poland are a tidy, tidy team," assesses Anderson, a former World Cup of Darts winner alongside Wright back in 2019, afterwards in his post-match press conference. "So yeah, very good to get the win like that."

Scotland enters this tournament as the fourth seeds, old rivals England (Luke Humphries and Michael Smith) are seeded first and widely considered tournament favourites, something that ever so slightly irks the legendary Scottish duo. "It's the same as the football isn't it, it's always about England and that never comes good," Anderson says with a wry smile. "They all go home don't they. That's a bit of banter by the way!"

For Anderson, this was the first match in over six weeks. "Yeah it's been a few months," the two time world champion admits. "These lads do it all the time and I used to but it's different now. When you get back on that stage though. The feeling quickly comes back to you."

Wright begins this World Cup of Darts after a disastrous Premier League campaign, in which he managed to win only two matches in sixteen weeks. "My confidence is really good," Wright insists. "I'm only going to go upwards and onwards you know. The Premier League has gone and I have got the World Cup to win with Gary now."

Scotland will take on Sweden in the quarterfinals on Sunday afternoon, the winner of that game will meet the winner of the England - Northern Ireland match in the semifinals.