Luke Littler’s next opponent at the World Darts Championship will arrive at Alexandra Palace carrying a very different set of pressures, after it emerged that David Davies has been forced to juggle annual leave and unpaid time off from his NHS job to keep his Ally Pally dream alive.Davies, a 40-year-old NHS area manager, has spent the past year balancing full-time work with life on the darts circuit, squeezing in Challenge Tour events around a demanding professional schedule.That commitment paid off in November when victory in the UK & Ireland qualifier secured a coveted place at the sport’s showpiece event in north London.Even reaching the World Championship, however, came at a personal cost. Davies revealed that he has repeatedly had to dip into his annual leave allocation to compete, including for Saturday’s first-round win over Mario Vandenbogaerde, a victory that earned a £25,000 payday and a meeting with the world No 1.Ahead of the clash with Littler, Davies admitted time away from work is now running dangerously low.“I’ve got minimal annual leave left – but I’m sure if I take unpaid leave the £25,000 will come in handy!” he said.Luke Littler’s next opponent at the World Darts Championship will arrive at Alexandra Palace carrying a very different set of pressures, after it emerged that David Davies has been forced to juggle annual leave and unpaid time off from his NHS job to keep his Ally Pally dream alive | PAThe Welshman’s route to Alexandra Palace is a reminder of the realities faced by many players outside darts’ elite tier.Without a tour card, Davies has been required to self-fund much of his season while maintaining a career away from the oche.“Work have been really supportive, I’ve just had to use annual leave,” he explained. Five facts darts fans might not know | PA/GBNEWS“I have used a few unpaid weeks here and there to go to different things.“It’s just when you need annual leave for normal holiday stuff you’re running thin because you’ve used them all for darts.”That juggling act has left little room for rest, let alone traditional time off. Holidays have been replaced by long drives to tournaments and late nights practising after work, yet Davies insists the decision to commit was driven by form rather than fantasy.“I didn’t really know about the qualifier until another player mentioned it,” he said.“I was sort of like ‘yeah, why not?’. I’ve been playing good darts, I’ve won a Challenge Tour this year. I knew my game was there.”Luke Littler is the defending world champion | PAThe reward for that belief is a match against Littler, the teenage phenomenon who has transformed darts’ profile and arrives at Ally Pally as the sport’s brightest star.Davies is realistic about the scale of the task but unmoved by the disparity in status.“There’s no games easy here, we’re all here because we deserve to be,” he said. “But Luke on the other hand, he’s a different breed, isn’t he? He’s blown the sport to a different dimension.”For Davies, being cast as the underdog is nothing new. The absence of a tour card and the need to juggle professional commitments have shaped his career, yet the first-round win has reinforced a sense of belonging on the biggest stage.“I’m going to be the underdog in every single game I play,” he said. “I haven’t got a tour card and people say this, that and the other, but I deserve to be here.“I’ve won my first game and now Luke’s next. I’ll try my best and see what happens.”