The Premier League roadshow pulls into Glasgow for Night Three
Here at The Early Whistle we’ve been uncharacteristically slow when it comes to riding the Luke Littler train, so with a Players’ Championship win earlier in the week and a nine-darter to boot, we figured now’s as good a time as any to hop onboard. Would he continue on the right track to success at Premier League night three in Glasgow, or simply run out of steam?
Anyway, that’s enough train puns – there’s other ways to express yourself. There are also five other players in the Premier League, and so far they’d conspired to deny ‘The Nuke’ his maiden final win. But as mentioned, this was only night three of sixteen before the O2, and it’s not as if he’s pushed for time…
However, it’s always nice to win, and that’s especially true if you’re Peter Wright or Nathan Aspinall, who both found themselves rather pointless walking into Glasgow’s OVO Hydro. Not far in front of them on just the one was Rob Cross, who was up first against the rejuvenated, table-topping Michael Smith. 144 for the match, anyone? That did nicely for the Hastings hitman in despatching Bully Boy 6-4. As for Wright, his night was just so… frustrating! He had plenty of chances to prevent a 6-2 Michael van Gerwen rout, but such is life when you don’t even have time to tinker with your darts.
And so to Luke, but of the Humphries variety. It’s a good time to play Nathan Aspinall right now, although you’d never know from the opening few legs, in which the Asp was so very close to a nine-darter. Are we permitted but one cliché? Despite his opponent’s best efforts, the World Champ’s class told for a 6-3 victory. Now it was the turn of Luke Jnr., who was up against the man who’d walked out of his own Players’ Championship match just days earlier – hardly ideal prep for Gerwyn Price, you’d think.
But you’d be wrong. A last-leg decider went the way of the Welshman, and we saw a rare glimpse of raw frustration from Littler. Still, time. Semi-finals in Scotland awaited, then, beginning with a battle of the baldies. There’s not much more to say than that because MVG didn’t really need to break sweat in beating Cross 6-4. Humphries v Price would surely be more of a bumpy ride on paper, but the world number one‘s 6-3 win screwed that into a ball and into the bin it went.
However, as any seasoned darts fan knows, that’s about as predictable and pedestrian the Premier League gets. A Humphries-van Gerwen final would’ve been many a purist’s pick, and it didn’t disappoint. Despite the Englishman going 4-2 ahead, the Green Machine stuck with the solid-without-being-spectacular mantra that had served him so well on the night. Three legs on the spin went his way before edging out his opponent in a final-leg shootout. There’s now a familiar name at the top of the table.
As round four beckons, we’ve seen the train slightly derailed, the crowd conduct themselves well, and the earlier promise of no more train puns broken. All this signalled the end of the night in Glasgow and high hopes that Newcastle will be first-class next week.
The Early Whistle 