Jonny Clayton edges Mickey Mansell in epic round-two contest at Alexandra Palace

Both men missed match darts in a gruelling encounter which lasted more than an hour.

Jonny Clayton won a sudden-death leg in the deciding set to edge past Mickey Mansell and book his place in the third round of the PDC World Championship after an epic contest at Alexandra Palace.

Mansell, who impressed on his run to the semi-finals of the Grand Slam of Darts, had claimed the opening set against the darts as Clayton was made to pay for missed doubles.

The Welshman, though, stormed back to swiftly level as he rattled off six straight legs – including a 100 checkout with a tops-tops finish – to turn the match around.

Despite plenty of wayward throwing, Northern Irishman Mansell dug in during the fourth set and capitalised on some low scoring from Clayton to level things up at 2-2.

Mansell then landed successive monster finishes of 136 and 154 to seemingly leave seventh seed Clayton on the brink of a shock early exit.

The Ferret, though, held with a 70 checkout before a clinical 114 finish sent the decider on.

Mickey Mansell (pictured) during his match against Jonny Clayton at the PDC World Darts Championship — Mickey Mansell produced back-to-back monster finishes as the match went the distance (John Walton/PA)

Mansell broke to edge in front and missed his own shot for the match at tops, with Clayton recovering to square things up then holding for a 5-4 lead.

Helped by his first 180 of the match, Mansell forced a sudden-death leg – which Clayton, with advantage of throwing first, eventually wrapped up on double five following a gruelling encounter which lasted more than an hour.

Alexis Taylo (left) reacts during his match against Krzysztof Ratajski (right) at the PDC World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace — Alexis Toylo (left) landed a monster checkout, but ultimately came up short against Krzysztof Ratajski (right) at Alexandra Palace (John Walton/PA)

Filipino star Toylo had marked his tournament debut with a first-round win over Richard Veenstra, but despite a big 160 finish in the opening set, he found it tough going against the Polish 31st seed.

Ratajski ground out a 2-0 lead before fending off any hopes of a comeback from Toylo to secure a showdown against Kevin Doets, who caused an upset in the last round by beating number two seed Michael Smith.

Andrew Gilding celebrates his victory over Martin Lukeman at the World Darts Championship — Andrew Gilding booked his place in the third round (John Walton/PA)

Josh Rock, the 18th seed, coasted to a 3-0 victory over Welsh debutant Rhys Griffin – missing a possible nine-dart finish in the third set when he failed to hit a seventh treble 20.

Rock – who claimed a first European Tour title at the Dutch Championship earlier this year – goes on to meet Chris Dobey, the 2023 Masters champion, for a place in the last 16.