BRANSGORE darts ace Scott Mitchell etched his name into the history books by winning a compelling BDO World Darts Championship final against three times champion Martin Adams 7-6.

In an enthralling match that was nip and tuck throughout, neither man looked certain to win, but after three hours of high-quality darts, 'Scotty Dog' sunk a double 20 to become the world champion for the maiden time and pocket £100,000 in prize money.

It had been a fairy-tale tournament for the popular new forest thrower, who had never previously been beyond second round at Lakeside, and came close to defeat against Tony O'Shea in round one after requiring a sudden death leg for victory.

Improving as the world championships progressed, Mitchell, a landscape gardener by trade, came into the match with an impressive 50 per cent checkout success rate and off the back of a 6-0 drubbing of Canadian Jeff Smith in the first semi-final.

In the early moments Mitchell, 44, going for gold, looked to be fresher than his 58-year-old opponent - who had edged Glen Durrant 6-5 after an engrossing semi-final, less than 24 hours earlier.

Adams was looking to become the oldest champion in the event's history and scored heavily throughout but was unable to hit the doubles required to close out legs - missing his first 12 attempts. Despite a woeful first set, 'Wolfie' responded in the second with checkouts of 123 and 116 giving him the lead to set up what was a riveting encounter.

From there it was a cat and mouse contest with both men trading leads before Mitchell tip-toed his way into a 6-5 advantage and the chance of throwing first for the championship.

Needing a 104 checkout for the title, Mitchell hit his first two darts but missed a double 16 for the match. How that moment could have haunted him as Adams struck back with a nerveless 91 checkout to take the game to a deciding set.

In the decider, Mitchell opened with a scintillating 158 checkout to break Adams and from there looked in control before finally hitting the winning double 20 at the second time of asking and broke into tears of joy and relief.