TONY O'SHEA produced a fantastic comeback at the William Grand Slam of Darts at the Wolverhampton Civic with nail-biting final leg win over Scott Waites - knocking the reigning champion out of the tournament in the process.O'Shea was 4-1 down but put together a run of four successive legs - surviving six missed match darts from his opponent in the process - to claim a remarkable win.
The defeat for Waites followed his loss to Michael van Gerwen on the opening night of the tournament, and Mark Walsh's later win over the Dutchman means he cannot now qualify for the knockout phase.
O'Shea started the match superbly as he recorded 180s with his first two visits to the board in setting up a potential nine-darter in the opening leg.
Those hopes were extinguished after the seventh dart landed just above the treble 20, but the leg was won in 11 darts for an early lead.
Waites hit a maximum of his own in a 12-darter to level and then broke his opponent's throw with a clinical 107 finish.
The defending champion then moved two legs clear when he landed double 16 after O'Shea missed double for a 106 finish.
Waites missed three darts at doubles in the next leg but again O'Shea was unable to capitalise and the Yorkshireman returned to hit double one with his last dart.
O'Shea won the sixth leg in 14 darts and took the next in just 13 as he hit double top for the second successive leg to reduce the deficit to 4-3.
A dramatic eighth leg saw Waites miss six darts for the match, and O'Shea stole in by hitting double eight with his last dart to force a decider, in which he made the advantage of throw pay dividends to record a remarkable win.
"I had great start to the match, but Scott soon took over," said O'Shea. "I stuck in well when the pressure when was really on and I'm thrilled to get over the winning line."
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