King made to work hard at BDO Championship
Monday, 3 January 2005 20:01A much-fancied third seed Mervyn King booked his place in the second round of the Lakeside World Championship but was made to work hard by Welshman Wayne Warren.
In a high-scoring encounter, King, last year's runner-up, triumphed 3-0 but each set went to a fifth and deciding leg.
A relieved King said: "It was a very hard game - he scared the life out of me in the first set when he went 2-0 up but I dug in and I've come through.
"It doesn't feel like a 3-0 win - it feels like I've just gone through a nine-setter and won 5-4."
King had a special mention for Warren's vocal Welsh following and added: "The crowd were unbelievable. He probably had 95% on his side and they were absolutely brilliant.
"But I had a lot of support here as well and I'm thankful for that," he added.
Finnish debutant Marko Kantele produced one of the upsets of the first round to knock out sixth seed Tony O'Shea 3-1.
Greenkeeper O'Shea was hampered by a dislocated left shoulder and Kantele took full advantage. He lost the first set but won six straight legs and never looked back after that.
O'Shea said: "The one thing that was different from practise was the raised oche.
"But I'm not blaming that. I pinched the first set but after that he played fantastically well."
Simon Whitlock enjoyed his Lakeside debut. The Australian beat fellow debutant, Ellesmere Port youngster Tony Martin, 3-1 to set up a second-round match on Wednesday with Kantele.
He said: "I was a bit nervous but I'm happy to get through."
