SCOTT Mitchell failed to progress from the Grand Slam of Darts group stage for the fourth year in a row before admitting it had become a monkey on his back.

The Dorset county star's campaign at Aldersley Leisure Village in Wolverhampton was cut short by old pal Stephen Bunting on Monday.

Mitchell's single victory against German youngster Martin Schindler failed to secure second place in Group G, with Bunting and number six seed Mensur Suljovic earning progress.

The Bransgore thrower failed to deliver on the doubles early on against ex-BDO man Bunting, which played a huge role in him missing out on the last 16 and a minimum £10,000 pay day.

Reflecting on his exit, Mitchell told the Daily Echo: "It is like trying to get a monkey off my back. "I remember having it at Lakeside when I was trying to get my first win. It just kept coming and coming but eventually I got it and everything started happening for me.

"Over the three games, I wasn't consistent enough. In the first game (against Suljovic) I had a slow start and by the time I got into the game I had given him a 3-0 lead.

"With the Sunday game (against Schindler), I flew out of the traps and didn't make the same mistake. I prepared the same for Monday but it wasn't to be."

Scotty Dog claimed his game was more suited to longer matches than the best-of-nine shootouts of the group stage.

"I played well enough in patches to show I should be there but the consistency wasn't there," said Mitchell.

"I would have loved to have gone through and got to the best-of-19 games because they are not such a sprint and you have time to get into them. If you take a couple of legs to get going and then have a purple patch, you can get those back.

"The longer game suits me and I would have preferred to have got out of the group but that's the way it goes. If you don't hit doubles, you don't win games.

"I finished with a tournament average of 94. If you had told me I would be coming out of the tournament with a 94 average, I would have thought it would have been enough to get through."

Bunting went into the showdown knowing his place in the knockout stage had been secured, which Mitchell said had allowed his opponent to relax.

Mitchell felt he had faced extra pressure, knowing he needed to win, and said missing six doubles in the opening two legs had been "frustrating to say the least".

"You are dealing with the pressure well if you win those legs but it didn't happen," he said.

"It put a nice wind of the sails of Stephen, who was relaxed anyway because he was going to top the group no matter what.

"Ultimately, it is disappointing. The plan was to get out of the group and I felt I was playing well enough to do that but it didn't materialise."