STEPHEN Bunting keeps St Helens hopes alive in the Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts, taking place this week in Wolverhampton.

The 49-year-old has reached the knockout stage for the second year running, while fellow throwers from the town Michael Smith and Dave Chisnall have failed to progress from their groups in the £650,000 tournament.

Windle-based Bunting, who made it to the semi-finals last November, will face Scottish legend Gary Anderson in the last 16 on Thursday night, with the pair due on the WV Active Aldersley stage around 10.15pm.

The Bullet booked his ticket with two group wins, sealing his passage with a scintillating display in a do-or-die 5-2 victory over Josh Rock on Tuesday night to finish as runner-up in Group H.

“I’m so happy with my form, and so happy to get through the group of death, so who knows how far I can go now,” said Bunting, the world number 10.

Cazoo Masters champion Bunting produced one of the stand-out performances in Group H on Saturday, kicking off his campaign with a dramatic 5-4 win against Wessel Nijman.

But the former BDO world champion was smashed 5-1 on Sunday when another Dutchman Gian Van Veen produced the third-highest average in Grand Slam history, with 114.71.

Now it is two-times winner Anderson who stands in his way of a Saturday quarter-final berth and there can be no more slip-ups.

Below-par performances have already seen the top three seeds bow out – holder Luke Humphries, three-times winner Michael van Gerwen and the 2022 champion Smith.

Bully Boy needed to deck Mike de Decker in Tuesday night’s Group E make-or-break shoot-out but he failed miserably with a 5-0 loss, meaning the Belgian progresses to face St Helens Darts Academy product and bookmakers’ favourite Luke Littler in the last 16 on Thursday night.

Fifth-seed Dave Chisnall lost all three of his group games and, like Smith, will now have to focus on pressing the reset button for the Ladbrokes Players Championship Finals at Butlin’s Resort Minehead from November 22-24 in what will be the last chance to hit some form in front of a crowd before the World Championships kick-off at Alexandra Palace on December 15.