Luke Littler hilariously mocks HIMSELF after nearly missing the board with double tops attempt… before the 17-year-old star bounced back to win his first Premier League night in Belfast
- Luke Littler won his first Premier League night in Belfast on Thursday
- But it wasn’t all plain sailing as he wildly missed a chance for double tops in the final
- Littler saw the funny side and mocked himself after his wayward arrow
Luke Littler kept himself hilariously entertained during his Premier League final against Nathan Aspinall in week nine in Belfast on Thursday evening.
After beating Luke Humphries and Michael van Gerwen to reach only his second final of the campaign, Littler won the opening match against Aspinall before his opponent hit back to level matters at 1–1.
In the third leg, Littler had to take out 131 while Aspinall was on 16, and he made a good start by hitting treble 17, requiring 80 with his last two darts.
The 17-year-old decided that trying to hit double 20 twice was the way to go and aimed for tops, but his first arrow flew well above the target and almost missed the board before landing in the double segment.
There was a bewildered murmur from the crowd, but Littler took it all in as he placed his hand on his forehead and pretended to look into the distance for his wayward arrow.
Luke Littler threw a dart at double tops that almost missed the board and started mocking himself by pretending to look into the crowd for his wayward dart.
It was a rare mistake from Littler as he won his first Premier League night in Belfast
Littler defeated his good friend Nathan Aspinall (right) in the final and is now second in the rankings
His reaction to his miss sparked laughter from Belfast fans and the Sky Sports commentary team, with Rod Studd announcing ‘there’s blowing’ while joking that the wind had taken Littler’s effort off course.
Aspinall returned to the oche to complete his checkout and then moved into a 3-1 lead.
But Littler had the bit between his teeth – despite his moment of joy – and came roaring back to seal a 6-4 win.
His win gave him five points on the night and moved him into second place in the Premier League, behind world champion Luke Humphries.
He is on course to make the end-of-season play-offs and revealed afterwards that changing his pitch had helped him come out on top in Northern Ireland.
“As people may have noticed, I changed my throw to take that little bit of extra time and then release the next two (darts),” he told Sky Sports.
“I practiced more and it paid off.”
The Premier League moves to Manchester next week – a little closer to home for the Warrington-born teenager.
Littler explained afterward that he had slowed his throw and that the change had paid off
Littler is looking forward to returning to the North West where he will look to build on this week’s victory over good friend Aspinall.
“I’m just happy to have won it, and obviously against a good friend, Nath,” he added.
‘I can’t wait for next week in Manchester.
‘I know I have Michael van Gerwen in the first round next week, but of course Nath will enjoy next week in his hometown, which is close to my house. I can not wait.’