Wright gets draw despite being in sprain

PAINFUL Peter Wright grabbed a vital draw despite twisting his sprained ankle again while dancing on stage. The World Champion salvaged a Premier League point against Scottish World Cup team-mate Gary Anderson in a see-saw encounter in Nottingham last night. But Snakebite admitted that his “stupid” ankle was making him limp throughout after injuring it earlier in the week. Wright said: “I sprained my ankle lifting my wife’s suitcases out of the car and then I tweaked it again dancing on the stage. I forgot about it! “It was back and forth. I was trying not to think about my stupid ankle. I was just trying to give Gary a game. I know he’s coming back to form, he won at the weekend. I was enjoying watching Gary play darts like he can. Then he fell asleep and let me back in! “I don’t think about the World Championship now, just ahead to the next tournament. That’s been and done.” Both Ando and Wright grabbed the lead and then threw it away in a high quality encounter punctuated by bizarre mistakes. Anderson said: “It’s a fair result but I’m still kicking myself over a big 18 that I missed. I’m going to batter myself outside. Peter did it, that double 16 last throw, that hurt. “It’s good to be back playing darts. If I wasn’t playing this, I wouldn’t be playing much darts this year. “I think each week it will get better. I get the odd good night and the odd bad night but it’s getting there.” Rob Cross vowed that Robin Hood would have been proud of his almost impossible arrowing accuracy in Nottingham. The 2018 World Champion delivered a ‘banana’ throw to turn a gritty battle with Nathan Aspinall in his favour for a narrow win, Voltage had to move two foot from the centre of the oche to find a double 16 finish and then grabbed the 7-5 victory with a cracking 112 outshot at the Motorpoint Arena. Cross, now unbeaten after two matches, said: “I reckon that Robin Hood would have been proud of how I found the target! “It was proper pressure. I’d missed the first two chances and I knew if I missed again Nathan was in to break my throw and favourite to win the match. “I don’t really know how but I found a gap. I think it was fate in the end, fate found a way for the dart to get into the double.” Gerwyn Price came back from the dead for the second successive week to grab a draw. The Welshman was 6-2 down and toiling but somehow found an extra gear to win four legs on the bounce to draw with Michael Smith. Price said: “Last week I should have won but how good did Michael play today. I thought I was playing well but he just wasn’t missing anything. “At 6-2 I thought I’d lost the game but I never give up and Michael gave me a few chances at the end.” Smith added: “When I got to 6-5 I thought I’ve got a point instead of trying to kill it, I need to kill off games. I’m desperate for a win. My main aim tonight was to keep Gezzy quiet. But he wouldn’t be quiet in an empty room this guy!” By Phil Lanning (@lannomedia)