BRANSGORE thrower Scott Mitchell plans to keep Lakeside rival Geert De Vos on a short leash and says the Belgian could crack under pressure.

The number four seed, a landscape gardener by trade, will tonight face De Vos for the right to progress to the BDO World Championship quarter-final for the first time.

Like 'Scotty Dog', world number 24 De Vos has never gone further than the second round but lost to eventual winners Christian Kist and Scott Waites in 2012 and 2013, respectively.

Mitchell, who is already guaranteed £4,500 in prize money after beating Tony O’Shea on Saturday, is in bullish mood ahead of the high-stakes clash.

He told the Daily Echo: “Geert is a high-scorer and a really good frontrunner. If he gets in front he tends to put the hammer down and go.

“But he is one that will give you chances if you stay with him. He does choke sometimes so, hopefully, that will be the case and I can get by him.

“I think Geert is probably a bit more consistent than Tony. I don’t think there will be spells where he goes out of the game.

“But I can’t worry about him. It’s about me and whether I get my game out. If I do that I don’t believe there are many here that can beat me.”

De Vos, nicknamed ‘Foxy Roxy’, was defeated by Mitchell in their most recent encounter at the England Open in June.

The 33-year-old won the Estonian Open last year and became part of the revered group of players to achieve arrows perfec-tion when he hit a nine-darter at the Denmark Open in 2008.

Mitchell is the highest-ranked seed in his half of the draw following James Wilson’s exit at the hands of Swedish supermarket manager Peter Sajwani on Monday.

But the 44-year-old insists the path to success at Frimley Green remains extremely tough, despite the early departure of the top seed.

He added: “You crave a seeding when you haven’t got it but when you have it, it is a burden and you try to play it down. It’s quite strange.

“The tournament opened up last year but I didn’t get past James in the first round so it didn’t work for me.

“That said, I’ll probably think it’s a great thing that he has gone out if I manage to get past Geert. But I musn’t think I’m past anybody before I am.”