STEPHEN Bunting defeated twelfth seed Dave Chisnall 4-2 in the all-St Helens tie at Alexandra Palace to reach the last 16 of the Cazoo World Darts Championship.

It was a compelling game, and a high scoring one at that with Chisnall taking the opening set 3-1.

Bunting set the tone when he rattled off the next two sets without dropping a leg before Chisnall edged a tight fourth set to level matters.

But Bunting, seeded 21, and eying progress in this comp after reaching the semis two years ago, was playing with confidence.

The Windle-based thrower took the fifth set 3-1 and then sealed it with a 3-2 win in what would be the final set.

Bunting will now play the winners of tonight’s Luke Humphries/Vincent van der Voort tie on Friday evening.

Full report and round up later this evening.