Nathan Aspinall scored a huge nightly win to overtake Michael van Gerwen in the Premier League in Aberdeen.
The night saw an epic bout between world no1 and no2 Luke Humphries and Luke Litter, with the latter coming out on top averaging over 115.
Gerwyn Price also hit a spectacular nine-darter, his second of the Premier League season.
The night however belonged to Nathan Aspinall, who beat Chris Dobey convincingly 6-1 in the final to win his second night of the year and propel the 33-year-old into the play-offs.
Nathan Aspinall claimed his second nightly win of the season
PA
The Asp replaces Michael van Gerwen, whom he beat in the quarter-final on Thursday evening.
Mighty Mike is still yet to win a night this campaign after 15 weeks, and his play-off place is now under serious threat.
It would be the first time since 2020 that the Dutchman has failed to qualify.
The pair face off again in Sheffield next week in a huge play-off decider, with Aspinall currently sitting four points ahead of van Gerwen, in the final night of the league phase.
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Michael van Gerwen has not failed to qualify since 2020
PA
The night has been hailed as one of the ‘greatest ever’ in the Premier League, due to the quality of darts being on show, particularly between Humphries and Littler.
The epic battle between the pair was called ‘an absolute joke’ by commentator Wayne Mardle on Sky Sports, with Humphries averaging over 110, but only winning three legs.
Following on from last week’s final, the duo hit 180 on 14 occasions in just nine legs.
Littler also hit 75 per cent of his doubles during the game, winning six of the last seven legs and hitting two tonne-plus checkouts.
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Despite averaging over 100, The Nuke was then knocked out in the semi-finals 6-5 by Dobey. Aspinall crushed Stephen Bunting 6-1 in the other match.
Gerwyn Price hit his second nine-darter of the season in a 6-4 quarter-final defeat to Stephen Bunting. The Welshman won’t mind, though, as with three nightly wins he is already qualified.
It is the seventh time he has hit a nine-darter in a televised event, meaning he now has the third-most televised nine-darters of all time.
Reflecting on the huge nightly win, Aspinall spoke to Sky Sports after the game.
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Gerwyn Price hit his second nine-darter of the Premier League campaign
PA
“I felt really confident coming into tonight, obviously last week I should have beaten Littler, I’m not afraid to admit it, I bottled it.
“Tonight is a new night, I knew I have had the better over Michael [van Gerwen] over the last few weeks, and I thought I was really composed in that game.
“Fair play to Michael, he went ‘your finishing was fantastic’. It really meant nothing, though, unless I won my next game. I knew I had to make the final.
“I’ve not played amazing tonight, but what I have done tonight is be composed, I’ve not celebrated, I’ve kept myself in the moment, when things aren’t going well, the crowd have helped me.”
Fan-favourite Aspinall has put himself in a great position to qualify for the play-offs, after narrowly missing out to Michael Smith last year.
Fans were quick to take to social media in order to congratulate The Asp, with one fan writing: “After everything he’s been through, I’d love it if he went on and won it. You can visually see just how much it means to him.”
Another wrote: “Well played, Nathan. Well deserved!”
Both Aspinall and van Gerwen are now gearing up for the play-off decider next week, in what promises to be yet another week of breathtaking darts, before heading to the 02 Arena for the finals.
