Rob Cross emerged from a competitive Saturday night on the virtual oche to reach the last eight of the PDC's Home Tour.
The former world champion won his first two matches, defeating Daniel Larsson 6-3, then fending off a fightback from Ryan Searle to beat his biggest threat 6-4, before sloppily giving up the chance of a clean sweep in a 6-5 defeat to Luke Woodhouse.
Searle could only sit and watch having won his other two matches, knowing that Cross need win just three legs of the final match of the night to advance, regardless of the outcome.
With Woodhouse struggling throughout, that seldom looked like posing too much of a problem for Cross and so it proved, although he did open the door for his opponent to salvage something from the night by stealing the deciding leg.
World number four Cross secured a 6-3 victory over Sweden's Larsson to get things under way.
A tight contest remained with the throw for six legs but, just as Larsson appeared well placed to break, Cross took out 107 in the seventh.
Cross then broke in the eighth and Larsson missed three darts at double in the ninth in what proved a pivotal moment in the match.
Searle was a 6-4 winner in match two, with Woodhouse - who threw a nine-dart finish in progressing from the first group phase - eliminated when he blew a 5-3 lead in the next game against Larsson, who kept his hopes alive with a 6-5 victory.
In the night's decisive match, Cross quickly surged into a 3-0 lead against Searle but began to wobble as he was broken twice late on - missing six match darts at double 16 in the process.
However, having got back on throw, Searle was broken in the 10th leg as Cross sealed a 6-4 victory to close in on a semi-final place.
Searle's 6-4 win over Larsson gave him a slight chance of progressing, but Cross swiftly wrapped up the three legs he needed against Woodhouse to ensure he topped the group.
He went on to lose 6-5 to cap off the night in unconvincing fashion as his focus understandably appeared to dip, in the end winning on leg difference without being at his best.
PDC Home Tour Darts: Saturday results and Sunday fixtures
Group Five - Saturday May 30
- Rob Cross 6-3 Daniel Larsson
- Ryan Searle 6-4 Luke Woodhouse
- Daniel Larsson 6-5 Luke Woodhouse
- Rob Cross 6-4 Ryan Searle
- Ryan Searle 6-4 Daniel Larsson
- Luke Woodhouse 6-5 Rob Cross
GROUP STANDINGS
- Rob Cross P 3 W 2 L 1 Leg Diff +4 Pts 4
- Ryan Searle P 3 W 2 L 1 Leg Diff +2 Pts 4
- Luke Woodhouse P 3 W 1 L 2 Leg Diff -2 Pts 2
- Daniel Larsson P 3 W 1 L 2 Leg Diff -4 Pts 2
Group Six - Sunday May 31
- Joe Cullen v Martijn Kleermaker
- Chris Dobey v Jeff Smith
- Martijn Kleermaker v Jeff Smith
- Joe Cullen v Chris Dobey
- Chris Dobey v Martijn Kleermaker
- Jeff Smith v Joe Cullen
CLICK HERE FOR FULL TOURNAMENT RESULTS & FIXTURES
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