SCOTTY ‘Dog’ Mitchell was left to rue another missed opportunity at Lakeside after admitting he had world champion Martin Adams “rattled”.

Dorset star Mitchell eventually crashed to a 3-0 defeat to ‘Wolfie’, but had he nailed some crucial doubles, could have given the three-times title winner a rough ride.

Adams was slow out the blocks during the pair’s first round clash in Frimley Green on Saturday and Bransgore thrower Mitchell had a host of chances to give himself a fighting chance of winning the opening set.

The 41-year-old missed three darts at double to break Adams in the opening leg, before another three went begging, this time at bullseye and double eight, in the third leg.

And although Adams’s doubles were also deserting him, the Lincolnshire man showed his class to break Mitchell’s throw in the fourth leg and win the opening set.

Adams checked out on 136, 104 and 81 to dominate the second set, before another bull finish, this time on 132, put him to within one leg of the match in set three.

But Mitchell rallied once more, taking out double two to make it 2-2 in legs after Adams had missed three darts for the match.

Mitchell then came within the wire of double 18 during a valiant attempt to check out 136, before Adams coolly took out 56 to move into the second round.

Mitchell, who tasted his third straight first round reverse at Lakeside, told the Echo: “It was definitely a missed opportunity. I should have won the first set 3-0, but maybe because Martin has been up on the stage so many times, he dealt with it a bit better.

“I definitely rattled him in that first set, but by the time we got to the second, he was amazing.

“He took out 132 to win the set and you just can’t argue with that. That is why he is a three-time world champion.”

Mitchell, whose previous defeats came to Daryl Gurney in 2010 and Dutchman Jan Dekker last year, added: “When those big pressure moments come, you have to deal with them and, once again, it hasn’t been my day here.

“He was flaky in the first set and I kind of knew that would happen. I just didn’t sink those doubles.

“I’m currently number eight in the rankings for next year and that’s a good place to be early on. Mentally, getting over that first round issue will get harder the longer it goes on.

“Experience at this tournament counts for something and once I get over the hurdle of winning a match here, I will be fine.”