Gerwyn Price survived a scare as he began his World Darts Championship defence with a win on Wednesday evening.

Price, from Markham, beat Ritchie Edhouse 3-1 in the second round of the competition, which is held at the Alexandra Palace in north London.

World number one Price had to fight back from a set down against the 38-year-old Englishman, who is ranked 80th on the PDC Order of Merit.

Edhouse took a lead 2-0 lead in the third set, but Price fought back and won the set decider with a 130 checkout.

Price then hit his stride and wrapped up the fourth set by winning all three legs with a 101.28 average.

Speaking after the contest, Price said: “I’m not sure it was a scare but in the first set I missed loads of doubles and put myself under pressure which got the crowd involved.

“The two 130 checkouts won me the game I think. I played pretty well toward the latter stages of the game.

“Sometimes you have nitty gritty games, you have to dig deep and get through them.”

Price will now take on either Kim Huybrechts, Steve Beaton or Fallon Sherrock in the third round, which will be played after Christmas.