The Essex boys became the comeback kings on another day of seemingly endless drama at the 2005 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championships.

Dagenham's Wayne Mardle and Witham's number one seed Colin "Jaws" Lloyd both overcame 3-1 fourth round deficits to take their place in the quarter finals - where they will face each other.

"Hawaii 501" Mardle, who also struggled through histhird round match with Mark Walsh, was pushed all the way by Paul Williams at Purfleet's Circus Tavern. Williams played out of his skin while the south Essex favourite struggled with both his scoring and doubles.

An early 167 checkout, the highest of the championship so far, failed to hide Mardle's poor early form, which suddenly disappeared when all seemed lost.

Afterward winning 4-3 Mardle said: "I'm pleased but it was such a shoddy performance. I'm over the moon to be through because I was 3-1 down."

Mardle is looking forward to facing Lloyd on New Year's Day.

Lloyd had to dig even deeper than Mardle to keep his chances of lifting the title alive after trailing 3-1 in sets and 2-0 in legs.

"I was gone, but I'm here to be world champion so I wasn't just going to give up," said Lloyd, who won 4-3.

Other results: Phil Taylor bt Dennis Priestley 4-0, Andy Hamilton bt Steve Beaton 4-2, Mark Dudbridge bt John Part 4-2, Ronnie Baxter bt Terry Jenkins 4-2, Denis Ovens bt Roland Scholten 4-2.