Nearly a year ago, Nathan Aspinall achieved the biggest moment of his career by capturing the World Matchplay in Blackpool.
‘The Asp’ routed Jonny Clayton in the final 18-6 and won 11 consecutive legs in the lop-sided final.
Aspinall had endured a torrid time with injury before lifting the Phil Taylor trophy and he revealed what he told himself during the closing stages of the match.
Nathan Aspinall reveals the pep talk he gave himself on stage
Despite his mammoth lead, darts is never over until the final double goes in and Aspinall revealed to the PDC his internal monologue during the biggest moment of his darting life.
“Tops, 200 bags [thousand pounds], won the trophy happy days.
“Then my old regrip came into play and I missed it. Jonny’s coming back on tops, he’s not had many shots at double so I thought I might have a chance, but you never know.”
Though the 2019 UK Open Champion had an 11 leg lead, the turmoil of missing championship darts was nearly unbearable for the Stockport man.
“I’m walking around the back going ‘please miss it’ because if he misses it, I’m thinking I’m not gonna miss another three darts to win the title.”
Fortunately for Aspinall, the Welshman did miss, and the 32-year-old capped off a special week by lifting darts’ second biggest prize.
Nathan Aspinall is under pressure ahead of title defence
We’re just over a month away before the PDC head back to the Winter Gardens and Aspinall will be feeling the pressure ahead of his title defence.
He has admitted he has struggled for form since the landmark victory and opened up earlier this year about the effect social media abuse has had on him.
He suffered a whitewash defeat to Ricky Evans in his opening game of the World Championship and failed to make finals night in the Premier League.
The battle for the sport’s biggest prizes has intensified too over the past 12 months with the emergence of Luke Humphries as a darting juggernaut and newly crowned Premier League Champion Luke Littler.
The odds may be stacked against ‘The Asp’ but he won’t mind that.
He has battled adversity throughout his career and though he will be far from the favourite to retain his title in Blackpool, he cannot be underestimated.