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William Borland reveals derogatory Scotland chant inspired brilliant nine-dart finish on debut World Championship to send Alexandra Palace wild
Scottish debutant William Borland produced a brilliant nine-dart finish at the William Hill World Championship to clinch a 3-2 first-round win against Bradley Brooks.
With the scores locked at 2-2 in the deciding set Borland, from East Calder, struck perfection with three treble 20s, followed by two more and treble 19 on his second visit.
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The 25-year-old then hit two more treble 20s and finished on double 12 to send the Alexandra Palace crowd into raptures on his World Championship debut.
Blackburn's Brooks, 21, had hit back from 2-0 down in the decider, having reeled off three successive legs to win the fourth set and extend the match.
Borland's effort was the 11th nine-dart finish at the World Championship and the first since Gary Anderson completed the feat in his semi-final win against Jelle Klaasen in 2016.
And the debutant revealed it was some derogatory chanting from the English crowd which inspired his grand-stand finish.
βBradley had a couple of bad legs and I was just thinking to myself, keep going, keep going and weβll see what happens and then to hit the nine-darter was just unbelievable, Iβm loving it,β Borland said.
βEveryone was singing βScotland get battered everywhere they goβ and that just kind of got me going. Bradley played a brilliant game, we both struggled at times and I feel I just did the right thing at the right time to get over the line. The crowd are just happy to see a nine-darter anywhere and to hit it on the biggest stage of them all, itβs unbelievable.β