Gerwyn Price admitted that his “head was going to blow off” during his tense clash with Daryl Gurney at the World Matchplay in Blackpool. The Iceman was involved in a close contest against Gurney, with Price eventually beating the Northern Irishman 10-7 to progress into the second round.
But tensions bubbled over after Price had hit the winning darts, with the Welshman and Gurney having squared up to each other on stage following a rogue handshake. Gurney had appeared frustrated with Price’s overzealous celebrations and the two looked to exchange words during a feisty encounter.
Speaking after he secured his progression into round two, Price said: “Five, six, seven years ago, that game could’ve got away from me. I’ve learned to keep my emotions intact, I think in two or three legs, my head would’ve blown off. But I’ve learned to keep it in.”
Price also reacted to the bust-up on social media by posting a black screen with the caption: “Got to be careful these days I’m down to a light cruiserweight [laughing emoji],” on his Instagram story.
During the match against Gurney, Price had raced to a 5-1 lead, but quickly surrendered momentum and was forced to watch his opponent regain a foothold. Gurney did spurn a golden chance to level the match at 8-8, which proved his final opening of the contest, given Price went on to wrap up a 10-7 win thereafter.
Commenting on his performance, the 40-year-old continued: “To be honest, I thought I was struggling during that game, but came off and saw I was averaging around 100, which is decent. I felt like I was pretty poor in patches and didn’t play particularly well.
“I just felt like I needed to keep myself composed [in the second half of the match] and not let my emotions get the best of me. Sometimes I can do that and the next leg isn’t so good. Sometimes I try and control it and I did in that game and it probably got me over the winning line.”
Elsewhere on night three of this year’s Matchplay, Chris Dobey brushed past Ricardo Pietreczko to secure passage into the second round, where he’ll meet fellow Premier League star Price. Whereas Michael van Gerwen prevailed in the battle of the Dutch legends, beating countryman Raymond van Barneveld 10-6 and Josh Rock got the better of Josh Rock.