DORSET darter Scott Mitchell claimed he was in the form of his life after almost completing a nine-dart finish at the Scottish Open.

The Bransgore man threw seven flawless arrows in his contest against James Little and delivered a scintillating 109 average against Willie Laird in the tournament’s early stages.

Mitchell, however, was narrowly defeated 5-4 in a tight last-eight encounter against Warwickshire’s Jamie Hughes, who he had previously trumped on his way to lifting the Sunparks Masters in Belgium last November.

But the BDO world number-10 insisted he was delighted with his current levels of consistency.

“I have been in the best form of my life over the past three of four months,” ‘Scotty Dog’ told the Daily Echo.

“I can’t put my finger on why, I feel I’m playing as well as I have ever played and the results are really good.

“While you’re in that bubble, you have to take advantage of it because there are so many times where you lose and have to grind out things.”

Having prevailed through a vast field of more than 1,500 competitors to make the latter stages, Mitchell breezed through the early rounds, dropping just four legs in his first eight matches before his showdown with Hughes.

On his quarter-final clash, Mitchell added: “We held our own darts until 3-3 and I had three darts at double-top to break him but missed them.

“Jamie had the darts so I was always chasing him down. Finally, he had a superb 14-dart last leg and I was nowhere close.”

On the back of their triumph in the Dutch Open earlier this month, five-time Lakesider Mitchell had been set to renew his successful partnership with Richie George in the doubles but the pair was forced to pull out with George feeling unwell.

Mitchell, an avid Poole Pirates fan, will return to Scotland next weekend to represent England in the Winmau Six Nations in Glenrothes.