Montgomery is confident he’ll beat rival Waites to make history
Ross ‘ The Boss’ Montgomery will aim to break new ground t omorrow ( Thursday) when he takes on Scott Waites in the second round of the Lakeside World Darts Championships.
The 52-year-old, from Greenhills, has never gone as far as round three at the British Darts Organisation’s showpiece event.
But he took a step closer to achieving that feat on Sunday when he produced some terrific darts to come through his Lakeside opener against debutant Pip Blackwell.
Montgomery won 3-1 to reach the second round for the fourth time in nine attempts and had to produce some fine finishing to see off a tricky opponent.
Every set was won 3-2 in legs and the real highlight for the Boss arrived in the third when he won consecutive legs with 121 and 125 checkouts.
The win sets up a clash with 2013 L a k e s i d e c h a mp i o n Wa i t e s . A n d Montgomery insists he’s playing the kind of darts that won him the Dutch Open in February last year – when he beat Waites 3-2 in the final.
The Boss told the News: “I worked hard on my finishing in the build-up and Sunday was probably the best I’ve played at the Lakeside.
“If I can keep my focus on Thursday and hit the doubles like that again Scott will have a hard job beating me.
“I was playing like this at the Dutch Open when I beat Scott in the final, so I just need to keep this form going.
“I know what I need to do to beat him but he’s a quality player and a former champion here, so it’ll be tough.
“I’m feeling good and looking forward t o i t. Hopefully, I can make a bit of history for myself in the process.”
With Ross reaching round t wo, i t helped silence critic Tommy Cox, the director of rival darts organisation PDC, who posted a derogatory message on Twitter suggesting The Boss would make a “traditional first round exit.”