Luke Humphries ignites Leeds crowd after realising dream with Premier League win
BetMGM Premier League 2024 – Night Fifteen – Leeds
World number one Luke Humphries delighted the home crowd as he battled to victory over Michael van Gerwen to win night 15 of the Premier League in Leeds.
Humphries – decked out in a Leeds United themed shirt as he revelled in the support of the First Direct Arena crowd – produced a string of impressive displays before edging out Van Gerwen in a last-leg decider.
After breaking in the first leg of the final, Dutchman Van Gerwen – who earlier beat Premier League leader Luke Littler – had opened up a 3-1 lead before Humphries came roaring back to level at 3-3.
There remained little between the two men with a run of lost throws before a missed out shot on 32 handed Humphries his first match darts.
The world number one, though, could not take out 78 as Van Gerwen levelled up at 5-5.
Both men then missed chances to clinch victory before ‘Cool Hand’ Humphries edged it, landing double top with his last dart in hand to secure a fourth nightly win overall.
“When I walked in here, I did feel a little bit of pressure, I can’t lie,” Humphries said on Sky Sports.
“I knew it (pressure) was on me. This was a dream for me tonight to perform in front of a crowd that I don’t do very often.
“Tonight was amazing. Going on to win was one of my greatest experiences in darts.”
Humphries, who walked out to ‘I Predict A Riot’ by Kaiser Chiefs, added: “The crowd were fantastic. It is what dreams are made of.
“I have played really well tonight, but it is how you peak on night 17 – being Premier League champion is something that would mean a lot to me.”
Littler remains five points clear at the top of the table, with Humphries and Van Gerwen also having qualified for the O2, while Nathan Aspinall and Michael Smith look set to battle it out for the fourth play-off spot in Sheffield next week.
In his semi-final win, Van Gerwen had just missed out on a nine-dart finish as he took the fourth leg to open up a 3-1 lead on Littler – before claiming the next on double one as both men were off target.
The Dutchman pressed home his advantage with a 74 checkout and then booked his place in the final on double six, having hit four maximums, as Littler’s match average of 86.89 proved costly.
Humphries landed four 180s in his 6-1 demolition of play-off hopeful Michael Smith, recording a match average of almost 103.
Littler had earlier coasted past former world champion Peter Wright with a 6-1 win in their quarter-final.
In Thursday night’s the opening match, Van Gerwen came from behind to land five straight legs in a 6-3 victory over Gerwyn Price – the Welshman having returning to Premier League action after missing last week because of a trapped nerve in his back.
World number one Humphries beat Rob Cross 6-1, landing two 180s and finishing with match average of 109.48, while Smith recorded a 6-3 win over play-off rival Nathan Aspinall, who was made to pay for not landing his doubles.
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