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Gary Anderson was beaten by Adrian Lewis in the 2011 final

Gary Anderson beat 16-time champion Phil Taylor 7-6 in a thrilling final to win his first PDC World Championship.

Taylor fought back from 3-1 and 6-4 down to level at 6-6 at Alexandra Palace in London.

Anderson, 44, won the first leg of the decider and when Taylor missed double 16 in the next, the Scot capitalised to win the £250,000 first prize.

"Phil is the best and always will be the best so that makes it more special," said fourth seed Anderson.

"I went 6-4 up and then after the break Phil took the next two sets and I felt it was gone."

Gary Anderson - 'Flying Scotsman' Phil 'The Power' Taylor Final average: 97.68. 180s: 19 Final average: 100.69. 180s: 13 Second final appearance - lost 7-5 to Adrian Lewis in 2011 Won all 20 world darts semi-finals. Fourth defeat in the final

A dramatic showdown saw Anderson recover from seeing all three darts drop out of the treble 20 on one visit at 4-4, while Englishman Taylor later missed a double for his first world championship nine-dart finish.

The 54-year-old, nicknamed The Power, missed a total of 55 doubles as he suffered only his fourth defeat in 20 world final appearances.

"Doubles cost me a couple of sets and he took advantage," the second seed told Sky Sports.

"My double eight and 16 were awful but Gary put me under pressure.

"At 6-6 I felt I had him and my energy levels were good, but he did a job on me and he beat me up in the last set."

Anderson became the first Scot to win a world title since Les 'McDanger' Wallace claimed the BDO crown in 1997.

Recent PDC World Championships winners 2014: Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands) 2013: Phil Taylor (England) 2012: Adrian Lewis (England) 2011: Adrian Lewis 2010: Phil Taylor 2009: Phil Taylor

A 121 checkout gave Anderson the first set in the 2015 final before a missed double 10 allowed his opponent to level.

Taylor cheekily tickled his rival under the chin after pulling back and despite losing the next two sets, a run of nine legs out of a possible 10 saw the man from Stoke open up a 4-3 lead.

Anderson missed bullseye for an 85 finish in the next set but Taylor missed double 12 and allowed Anderson to level the match in front of a 3,000 capacity crowd.

In the ninth set, Anderson failed to score on his first visit to the board after his third dart knocked out the previous two which were in treble 20.

Visibly annoyed, he lost the first two legs, but regrouped to win the next three and then opened up a 6-4 lead by taking the following set.

Taylor missed double 12 when almost completing a nine-dart finish at the start of an 11th set he took 3-0, and won the decisive fifth leg in the following set to tie the match at 6-6.

Three missed Taylor double 16s allowed Anderson to win the first two legs in the deciding final set and, although he missed a bullseye for victory, a double 12 completed a remarkable win.

Phil Taylor was appearing in his 20th world final at the age of 54

Taylor shares a joke with Anderson early on in the final at Alexandra Palace

Anderson has the last laugh as he celebrates his first world title