Michael Smith won the final night of Premier League Darts before Finals Night at the O2 Arena.
Smith beat Luke Littler in the semi-finals in Sheffield on Thursday before trumping Luke Humphries to secure victory, and, he’ll now head to London on a high.
Littler may well head to the O2 as the favourite to win the competition after topping the league phase, but Smith showed on Thursday that The Nuke isn’t invincible.
Speaking to Sky Sports after his victory, Smith stated that Littler did something on stage during their game that annoyed him.
Michael Smith annoyed by Luke Littler
The former World Champion spoke about Littler, claiming that the teenager annoyed him by going for a 155 checkout on the bull rather than going the conventional way.
“Luke tried to go for the 155 on the bull, Littler I should say, and it annoyed me. I thought with the 156 out I was going to step up now. To get another win felt really good.”
Luke Littler’s mistake
Luke Littler is only young, so he will make mistakes on the oche, and this was one of them.
At 4-1 up in the game, Littler went for a bit of an exhibition shot on the 155, aiming at treble 15 after a treble 20 to set up a shot on the bullseye rather than going for a treble 19 to leave a double 19.
Littler may have been trying to please the crowd after already confirming his place at the top of the league, or maybe he was just showing off, but, ultimately, this proved to be a costly mistake.
Darts is a game that is entirely about mentality, and it sounds as though Littler’s showboating gave Smith the motivation needed to win their game and ultimately win the night.
Smith may well carry that momentum through to Finals Night next week, and that may mean that Littler is in trouble for their semi-final clash next Thursday.