The match was perfectly poised at 3-3 during the interval but it was 'The Bullet' who emerged after the break, winning the opening three legs before eventually going on to win 7-4.
Despite his dominance of the BDO in recent years, the Lakeside World Championship was one trophy which has always proved elusive. Today though, Stephen proved why he was the top seed with a mature performance throughout both the final, and the Championship.
The match started slowly, both players losing their throw in the opening two sets as they struggled to close out the early legs. Bunting missed four doubles in the 4th set at 2-1 up allowing Norris to eventually level at 2 sets of piece.
As the match progressed both players picked up pace, averaging 100+ over their first nine darts. Nevertheless, neither player could grasp full control of the match, Bunting especially missing three darts to take a 4-2 lead, going into the break at 3-3.
The earlier missed opportunity was obviously playing on Bunting's mind as he missed a further five darts in the 7th set to break Norris. However the pendulum began to swing in his favour, as he broke Norris to take a 5-3 lead, the first two set lead of the match so far.
The situation began to get the better of Alan Norris, who started missing doubles, allowing Bunting to take a 6-3 lead. From that point it was only a matter of time, although Norris clawed one back with a brilliant 140 check-out.
The atmosphere became extremely tense inside the Lakeside Arena as the crowd sensed the end was in sight. The final legs were certainly scrappy, but in the end Bunting prevailed, claiming the final set 3-1 to claim his 7-4 victory over Norris.
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