Nathan Aspinall wins emotional Premier League night time after Luke Littler nightmare
Nathan Aspinall won Night 10 of the Premier League Darts in Manchester after Luke Littler was dumped out in painful circumstances as the world champion missed out on victory in his home night
Nathan Aspinall beat Luke Humphries to win Night 10 of the Premier League Darts in Manchester.
The two met in the final as a classic sporting rivalry of Manchester and Leeds saw another version as Stockport’s Aspinall, backed by the home crowd, faced Leeds United fan Humphries.
Humphries reached the final after beating Luke Littler for the first time in the Premier League since night four in November, ending the Warrington local’s chances of winning his home night too. Littler hit just four of his 21 attempts at a double against Humphries in the 6-4 defeat.
‘Cool Hand’ held throw in the opening leg before taking the darts in clinical style to lead 2-0, with Aspinall not even on a finish. The rout continued as Humphries went 3-0 up, off the back of Aspinall hitting a 180 to leave 36.
However, Aspinall’s spirit was not broken as he hit back to win the fourth set and then the fifth as the match came alive. The Asp then completed his revival to level the scores at 3-3 in a remarkable turnaround.
The resurgence continued as Aspinall took a 4-3 lead, capitalising on Humphries missing three darts for the leg. A fifth leg on the bounce soon followed as the Stockport lad moved within one of the match.
After Humphries got his first leg on the board in six, Aspinall threw for the match and opened with six perfect darts. Despite not crowning the night off with a second nine-darter of the evening, Aspinall held his nerve to seal the game and his first nightly win after Humphries narrowly missed the bullseye for a 170 finish and two darts at D8.
Aspinall reached the final after a comprehensive 6-2 win over Rob Cross in the quarter-final, hitting a brilliant 130 checkout and going 100 percent on his six double attempts in an incredibly efficient performance.
The Asp then put Michael van Gerwen to the sword in the semi-final with another 6-2 victory. Aspinall’s 101.31 average dwarfed an out-of-sorts MVG, who could only muster 85.59.
Humphries demolished Stephen Bunting 6-1 in the quarter-final as he made light work of last week’s nightly winner. ‘Cool Hand’ then booked his place in his first final since Newcastle, where he was beaten 6-1 by Littler, as he enacted revenge on the world champion.
Aspinall’s victory has seen him move into fourth place in the table, taking the final play-off place from Van Gerwen.
