PREMIER LEAGUE DARTS NIGHT 16: Michael van Gerwen knew he had to win the night in Sheffield to book his place at the O2 next week…but fell at the first hurdle to Nathan Aspinall
Nathan Aspinall seized the last remaining golden ticket to the BetMGM Premier League play-offs – but for Michael van Gerwen it may be the end of an aura.
On a win-or-bust night in Sheffield, Van Gerwen needed to take the honours on the final instalment of darts’ travelling circus to reach next week’s finals at the O2 arena in London.
But the only way he could snatch a top-four place was to win all three possible games – and he fell at the first hurdle. Aspinall, who only needed to beat the seven-times Premier League champion in their head-to-head clash to reach his first play-offs in the competition, sent MVG packing with a 6-2 win.
It all means that Aspinall, will join the two Lukes – Littler and Humphries – along with Gerwyn Price at the showpiece event in the capital next Thursday.
And while Van Gerwen now faces a summer of soul-searching, with the meter ticking over towards two years without winning a TV major, Aspinall was jubilant. The Asp said: “I’m so proud of myself – I knew I had to turn up tonight and get the job done, and I’ve done that.
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“People wrote me off at the start of the season but the PDC and Sky Sports know hat I can do and what I bring to the party. It was my aim to get to the O2 – now I can look ahead to next week and think about what I might achieve there.”
It is only the second time in 13 Premier League campaigns that Van Gerwen has failed to reach the play-offs – but it has been signposted virtually since the opening night in Belfast back in February.
On the Thursday night circus tour, MVG has failed to win any of the 16 meetings across seven countries and has reached only two finals. He has looked a pale imitation of the once-unstoppable force who held the No.1 spot in the Professional Darts Corporation rankings for almost a decade.
But for Aspinall, reaching the O2 is a stunning riposte to the critics who claimed he did not deserve a Premier League spot this year based on his performances over the previous 12 months.
The Asp admitted he would prefer the field to be based entirely on the rankings, with the top eight automatically chosen for the tournament, instead of the current system in which the world ’s top four are guaranteed a place but the other four are chosen by the PDC and Sky Sports.
Aspinall brings a karaoke spirit to the party because his Mr Brightside walk-on song is such a hit with the fans. But by beating Van Gerwen for the second week running to book the last remaining spot on the Greenwich meridian next week, he proved he was also worthy of his selection on merit.
To his credit there was no showboating, no celebrating in crestfallen Van Gerwen’s face, when he nailed tops at the third attempt to clinch his 6-2 win at the Utilita Arena.