BDO World Championships: Alan Norris 'would rather be underdog'

Alan Norris is the number two seed at the 2015 BDO World Championship

Alan Norris accepts there will be more expectation on him to do well at the BDO World Championship after finishing runner-up at Lakeside last time around.

Yeovil-born Norris beat defending champion Scott Waites and number two seed James Wilson on his way to the final before losing to Stephen Bunting.

The 42-year-old is seeded second at Frimley Green in 2015.

"I'd rather be an underdog and cause a few upsets, but you can only cause so many upsets," Norris told BBC Sport.

"People don't think of it as an upset any more so you've got to go up there with a bit more pressure on you to do your job."

Norris, who will be making his seventh World Championship appearance, will play Sweden's Daniel Larsson or Willem Mandigers of the Netherlands in round one on Tuesday, 6 January.

He had never been beyond the last eight until his excellent run in 2014, which ended with a 7-4 defeat by Bunting.

"That was my sixth time at Lakeside and I've always felt comfortable up there," continued Norris, who is based in Scotland. "It was a good confidence boost.

"I took it a little bit too easy with Stephen. He's one of my good mates and I probably wasn't angry enough to play him. My facial expressions said everything, if you watched the first four matches.

"It's been a good year and I've played well. I've been around a while now and things are starting to get together."

Bunting entered last year's event as a clear favourite, but with the 29-year-old opting to switch to the Professional Darts Corporation shortly after his Lakeside success, it appears much more difficult to pick a winner this time around.

"Stephen had a great season last year," said Norris.

"You look at the betting and who they've got as favourites, but I don't know where they get the odds from sometimes because I'm on the circuit and I would say there are at least five or six that could go a long way."