"It's good for me and it's good for the crowd" - Liam Maendl-Lawrance trying his best to lose the tag of being a 'slow player'

Liam Maendl-Lawrance struggled, but eventually made it through to the second round of the WDF World Cup at Lakeside. The 19-year-old German was edged past Welshman Mike Gillet 2-1 in a scrappy affair.

Both Maendl-Lawrance and Gillet were far below their best and did not even reach the 80 average. "It was a hard match," admitted Maendl-Lawrance in his post-match interview. "But, I won the match so who cares."

For Maendl-Lawrance, it was a nervy World Championship debut. "The format is so short, you need to get into the match early. So when you take two legs to warm up, you are already two-nil down," he explains. "It's nice to be here. It's like a big family here, I knew everyone around and they knew me. It's home of darts so I love it."

Maendl-Lawrance surfaced on the PDC European Tour this year, where he stood out for his particularly slow play. "I was really slow when I played PDC. I'm trying to make it faster but then I'm struggling until now to get better whilst playing a bit faster but I'm trying my best. It's good for me and it's good for the crowd of course so I'm trying my best."

In the next round, Maendl-Lawrance will take on 15th-seeded Englishman Martyn Turner. "I know Martyn and that will be a tough match. But I just go from my own strength and came here with one goal, and that is to become world champion."