By Jaimie Eccles
Night nine of the Premier League of darts took place on Thursday from the AO Arena in Manchester. Luke Littler was looking to continue his hot streak after securing two nightly wins in a row to take himself to the top of the table.
Here is how things unfolded:
Match 1 – Michael van Gerwen vs Stephen Bunting
Stephen Bunting had every reason to come into this one feeling frustrated after losing his quarter final match in the last two weeks whilst averaging 104 and 107. He faced Michael van Gerwen, who has seen his campaign stagnate a little after his electric start.
‘The Bullet’ was not looking to wait around here, coming out of the blocks flying. Bunting held his throw in 14 darts to open the contest before taking out a magnificent 161 to take an early 2-0 lead.
Bunting extended his lead to 4 legs after some poor finishing from van Gerwen. The fifth leg looked to be a complimentary one for Michael, yet after missing two darts at the outer ring, Bunting was able to put together a late burst to steal the leg and move one away from victory.
MVG denied the whitewash emphatically. The following three legs were taken in 12, 11 and 12 darts respectively to see the Dutchman fight back to 5-3 as the doubts started to creep in once again.
Fortunately for Bunting, the run ended there as he capitalised on a slip in the scoring from van Gerwen to power ahead and progress with a 6-3 win.
Result: Stephen Bunting 6-3 Michael van Gerwen
Match 2 – Gerwyn Price vs Luke Humphries
The second match of the night between Gerwyn Price and Luke Humphries started in a similar fashion to the previous contest as we got off to an explosive start, this time with Gerwyn Price as the provider.
Price flew out of the blocks with a 167 checkout in the first leg, followed by a second big finish in as many legs as he took out 135 to break and take a 2-0 lead.
Humphries broke straight back in the third leg but was pegged back again as Price took the fourth leg in 14 darts to break straight back after Humphries had missed the bullseye for a 126.
Three holds of throw followed, with the highlight being an 11-dart leg in the seventh of the contest by Price to move one away from moving on to the semi-finals.
And in the final leg, Gerwyn Price would go out on tops yet again to take a 6-2 win. ‘The Iceman’ only missed a singular dart at the outer ring in the contest, a truly remarkable display of finishing from the Welshman.
Result: Gerwyn Price 6-2 Luke Humphries
Match 3 – Gian van Veen vs Luke Littler
Next up was a rematch of the World Championship final as Luke Littler and Gian van Veen went head-to-head their third encounter of this year’s Premier League.
The first two legs went with throw before van Veen struck first blood, taking out 128 on the bullseye to break Littler’s throw and move in front.
Littler missed two darts at tops to level things up straight away as van Veen took out 96 to extend his lead, which he would continue by finding a second break of throw to go 4-1 up.
The world champion responded well, breaking straight back and then finding two maximums on his way to a 13-dart hold of throw to reduce the deficit to one leg.
Leg eight was the most dramatic of the contest to this point. Littler found another 180 in his second visit as he looked to pull away to which van Veen responded with a maximum of his own. Shortly after Littler missed double 11 for a 142, which allowed the Dutchman to win the leg.
A match dart went missing for van Veen as Littler held his throw, then found the break he needed to level things up as he would throw for the match in a deciding leg.
And this leg was full to the brim with drama. Both men hit a 180 at crucial points in the leg and roared in response, heating things up. Littler would then miss double seven to win the match with a 134, before things got even more interesting.
Van Veen missed a dart for the match which was celebrated by Littler behind him. Gian caught this and gave Littler an unamused look, which pushed the 19-year-old over the edge as he fumed in response before making a mess of his visit to the board. Van Veen kept his cool and took the leg to win the match.
The post-match handshake was frosty to say the least, a dramatic conclusion to a fantastic game of darts.
Result: Gian van Veen 6-5 Luke Littler
Match 4 – Jonny Clayton vs Josh Rock
In similar fashion to Gerwyn Price earlier in the night, Josh Rock started off his contest with Jonny Clayton with back-to-back ton-plus checkouts. Rock held in leg one with a 126, before finding an early break of throw with a magnificent 150.
Rock would take one more leg before Clayton kicked into gear, taking home three legs on the spin himself to level things up at 3-3.
The game mellowed out from this point as the next three legs went with throw, which saw Josh Rock take a 5-4 lead.
‘Rocky’ nearly closed things out spectacularly, missing the bullseye for a 170 to win it. This did not come back to punish him however, as Rock would take out the 25 to win his second game of the Premier League campaign against the same opponent as his first win.
Result: Josh Rock 6-4 Jonny Clayton
SF1 – Stephen Bunting vs Gerwyn Price
Things did not take long to get started here as Bunting powered away in the first leg, going five darts into the nine on his way to a 1-0 lead.
‘The Iceman’ continued his sensational work on the outer ring in the next leg to hold his throw, before reeling in the big fish against the darts to go 2-1 up.
Price’s second missed dart at double of the night was punished by ‘The Bullet’, as he broke straight back with a 112 checkout. Price would immediately answer back, breaking again in 11 darts.
Gerwyn Price was simply sublime from this point on, taking another three legs in succession to take home a 6-2 win and deservedly power onto the final.
For Bunting the story was all too similar. His 106 average was meaningless as he was swept aside by the Welshman, averaging over 112 himself.
Result: Gerwyn Price 6-2 Stephen Bunting
SF2 – Gian van Veen vs Josh Rock
Despite the discussion around his name still revolving around the earlier altercation with Luke Littler, Gian van Veen was ready to make his way towards a fourth final of the Premier League campaign in this semi-final against Josh Rock.
In a night full of early breaks of throw, the surprise here was that the first seven legs of the contest were holds. Both men were throwing some fantastic darts, with Josh Rock in particular conjuring up some magic on the stretch.
However, it was van Veen that would break first, taking out 80 to move 5-3 up and go one away, which would be all that he needed.
Rock looked to have fought back to undo the break but missed the big number to not give himself a dart at a double from 66. Van Veen would punish the mistake spectacularly with a 160 checkout to progress to the final against Gerwyn Price.
Result: Gian van Veen 6-3 Josh Rock
Final – Gerwyn Price vs Gian van Veen
Gerwyn Price got the final going with some of the same brilliance he had shown all night. ‘The Iceman’ took out 128 on double 10 for an early 12-dart break.
Price was not in any mood to give Gian van Veen a sniff as he held his throw in the second leg before matching his first leg, taking out 128 on double 10 for the second time to secure a second 12-dart break to go 3-0 up.
A 13-dart leg extended the lead to 4-0 before Gian got on the board himself after a rare miss from Price.
The remaining three legs of the match went with throw as Gerwyn Price found a third successive 6-2 win to claim the title in Manchester, his second nightly win of the campaign.
Result: Gerwyn Price 6-2 Gian van Veen