SCOTT Mitchell spent yesterday doing his "homework" after paying the price for one "terrible" leg by being bundled out of the World Trophy at the second-round stage.

Mitchell edged a pulsating contest with Umit Uygunsözlü on Saturday to navigate his way beyond the opening stage, before losing out to last year's runner-up Peter Machin in the last-16.

The 46-year old is now set for a three-week break from the game and will channel his energies into working on the family farm. But before switching off from darts altogether he was tuning into the latter stages of the tournament in Wales.

Mitchell told the Daily Echo: "I am a thinking man's player, so I watched it. You have to keep your eye on the opposition all the time, you want to see what they are doing in different situations and how they are reacting under pressure.

"You have to do your homework when you are not playing.

"I will have a few weeks off now, which is cool. It is a busy time on the farm. I can recharge the batteries and not worry too much about darts. I play in a little singles league at Bournemouth Electric Club on a Tuesday night to keep my arm going over, so I will not be going too long without throwing.

"It is very easy to go backwards quickly, so I make sure I am playing once a week and the work does not completely take over.

"I will keep the arm moving but I will put the darts to one side at home and go back to being a dad and a family man."

Mitchell has never progressed further than the last eight in the World Trophy and blamed his defeat against Australian Machin in this year's edition on an inability to hit his doubles.

Nevertheless, the Bransgore thrower insisted there was plenty to be positive about following his topsy-turvy 6-5 victory over tricky Turk Uygunsözlü in the first round.

"I think people who have followed me for the past few years know I don't do things easily," continued Mitchell, who returns to action in next month's England Open. "I did a lot of good things in that match and I was mentally very strong.

"I knew he would mess me about a bit. He was taking the pace of the game right down, then speeding it back up again and running round in circles!

"It was quite a mental task to play against him, to be honest, and I dealt with everything that was thrown at me.

"Then Peter didn't outplay me, he just hit a few doubles and I didn't. I had one terrible leg when I missed nine darts at a double and I didn't recover.

"We are only on television two or three times a year. It is a big thing when you do get on and disappointing when you don't bring your A-game. But that will happen to everybody and it was my turn this time."