Van Duijvenbode recalls footballer Van de Beek told him about criticism from Smith: "That just gave me an extra push to fight my way back"

Once again Dirk van Duijvenbode escaped elimination at the World Darts Championship. The Dutchman saw Karel Sedlacek miss a match dart in his first match, Thursday afternoon against Ross Smith he survived five match darts.

Van Duijvenbode was relieved afterwards. 'Aubergenius' acknowledged he was close to elimination, but according to him it should never have come to this.

''Although almost the whole match I didn't feel he was the better player,'' he told Viaplay. ''It just needed to be 3-2 for me in sets and it became 2-3. Only in the last set he suddenly started throwing well...''.

That the match was eventually decided after a sudden-death leg only adds to the lustre of the win indicated Van Duijvenbode. ''I believe I have now won a match eight times in Ally Pally and only once did it not come down to a deciding set. Ah, I really enjoy that too. On the biggest stage it's wonderful, that pressure. Even if I had lost, I would have looked back on this pot with some pleasure. Only when I win, it is of course even more beautiful.''

At times, things got heated between the two players, who sometimes celebrated quite extensively on stage. However, something preceded this. A message from footballer Donny van de Beek prompted it.

''Donny said: 'Do you know what all that Ross Smith is saying? That you cheered excessively after a 180. Harder than when he won the European Championship. Pff. That did taunt me. Especially when you saw how he was raving today every time he threw a 180. And he was pumping up the crowd too. At times when I was in danger of losing, that just gave me an extra push to fight my way back. Of course I come away well because he misses five matchdarts. But you have to throw it. I kept thinking: give me one of those chances and I will finish it. I have to be honest I did feel nerves when that chance came, but I did it."