Mansell hopes to take form into World Championship

MICKEY Mansell proved to be one of the surprise packages during last week’s Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton where he reached his first ever semi-final in a televised PDC tournament.

His success was a surprise to most, but not the man himself, who had been bubbling away nicely at the oche in the weeks leading up to the event.

Having yet to secure a coveted place at the World Championships, the 51-year-old ‘Clonoe Cyclone’ used a renewed level of determination to find his form when it mattered most, excelling during the final few Players Championship events to achieve his ultimate aim of playing at Alexandra Palace in December.

And he admits, once he completed that goal, the shackles came off and he subsequently defeated former world champions, Gerwyn Price and Raymond van Barneveld en route to earning his Grand Slam debut.

“I knew I had been playing well, even in the few weeks going into the last two sets of Players’ Championships,” he acknowledged.

“I knew I needed a run because I wasn’t in the World Championships and then in the last two days I played well. I beat [Michael] van Gerwen in one of them and I beat Jermaine Wattimena in another one and actually, to get into the quarter-finals I had four darts to beat Danny Noppert – I was 5-4 up – but he took out two finishes to beat me 6-5.

“Then I went into the last set of two Pro Tour events knowing I needed wins to secure a World Championship place and I got a couple of wins at them two days and when I knew I had got my place at the World Championship it eased the pressure, it was the major goal from the start of the year achieved.

“I had played well the weeks leading up to [the Grand Slam qualifier] in tight stressful situations and then on the Friday morning something just felt different – I did change a set of darts, the points on the darts, but I can’t say that was the magic wand – and straight out of the blocks I played well, beat Matt Campbell with a 110 average!

“That was the start of it and everything fell into place after that, I qualified for the Grand Slam and I beat a few names along the way.”

That run of form continued in Woverhampton where he started his Grand Slam campaign on the front foot, beating James Wade 5-3 and Rowby-John Rodriguez by the same scoreline to secure passage into the knockout stage ahead of his final Group A clash with world number one Luke Humphries.

That dead-rubber ended in a 5-1 victory for the Englishman, but it certainly didn’t dent Mansell’s confidence as he impressed in a 10-7 victory over Noppert in the last-16.

“In the group format, it’s important to win your first game because it keeps you off the back foot,” he said. “I knew if I had played Humphries [in the first two games] in the form he’s in, he’s world champion and world number one, it would be a tougher ask, while Wade, I’ve beaten him as often as he’s beaten me and I knew Rowby-John would play a big part in the group, so [to play Wade and Rowby-John first] was a big opportunity.

“Right away, I knew [the draw of group fixtures] was in my favour and once I knew I’d finished second in the group it was about focusing on Noppert in the last-16.

“It was very easy to get focused for because three weeks before I played him and beat him on the board – I thought – but he took out two 100-plus finishes to beat me, so I was pretty confident.

“Other people looking in may have thought, with him being number seven or eight in the world, it was beyond my capabilities, but I don’t listen to other people’s opinion because I knew I had the game to beat him and it was just about doing it on the night.”

That win over Noppert set up a quarter-final clash with Scotland’s Cameron Menzies, which turned into an absolutely cracking match of darts, which Mansell edged by retaining his focus. The encounter saw Mansell battle back from 4-0 down, winning eight of the next 12 legs to level at 8-8 before forcing a deciding leg and taking out his first dart at double top to clinch a nail-biting 16-15 win.

“Cameron is a different sort of character and I knew going into the game that the two of us hadn’t played in that long format, so it was going to be coming down to a more mental thing because there was going to be swings in the legs,” Mansell observed.

“I never thought either one of us would run away with it, we were evenly matched, so I always thought it was going to be a mental battle and the whole thing for me was to keep as focused as I could.

“I knew not to fall into the trap of reacting and doing things that are outside my norm and for me, that was the big thing, I kept doing what I was doing for just over an hour and a half.”

That exciting victory led to Sunday’s last four clash with Martin Lukeman and while the result didn’t go his way, with the reigning Tyrone Individual champion suffering a 16-12 defeat after a bright start which saw him engineer a 3-0 lead, it was the performance Mansell was most disappointed with.

“I had been very strong with the mental end of things all week,” he said.

“I didn’t even think about the final, I was only looking at the man in front of me as I had all week.

“But I was disappointed, more about the performance, because I’d have counted my strong point being the mental side but I lost concentration at different parts of the game and it’s not the not getting to the final, it’s that I didn’t keep my side of the bargain to give myself the best chance of getting to the final.

“If I’d kept everything intact I’d definitely had a far, far better chance of getting to the final but I lost control at certain moments in the game and I suppose that’s a learning thing for down the line because it was there to be capitalised on.

“The opportunity was there and yes, everyone would be disappointed at not getting to a final, but I didn’t execute the plan so it lies with me. You can’t wish and want to get to a final, you have to deliver and I didn’t execute mentally or from a technique point of view.”

While disappointed with how his Grand Slam ended, Mansell will take plenty from a stunning week of success at the oche in Wolverhampton, which he hopes to take into the World Championship next month.

“It can’t do any harm!,” he admitted.

“I’ve had a good run of setting up a routine and setting up and preparation programme that worked very well and the thing is, we’re starting from scratch again.

“The draw can throw up anything, but I’ll be confident with whatever comes my way.”

*Following Monday evening’s PDC World Championship draw, Mickey will play Japan’s Tomoya Goto in the first round and if successful he’ll take on number seven seed Jonny Clayton. The action at Ally Pally kicks off on December 15th.