Mere

Humphries and Cross hit nine-darters but Littler reigns supreme in Brighton

Littler breezed past Aspinall with an average of a ton and five 180s
Littler breezed past Aspinall with an average of a ton and five 180sPDC/Kieran Cleeves
A special Premier League night in Brighton saw two successful nine-darters as reigning world champion Luke Littler eventually romped home with the Night Five bragging rights on Thursday evening, beating Nathan Aspinall 6-3 in the final.

Remarkably, both players who hit the nine-darters went on to lose their matches, with Rob Cross falling to Nathan Aspinall in the semi-finals and world number one Luke Humphries achieving the feat but losing to Cross in his opening fixture.

Despite the defeats, both players still earn a sparkling - and yet to be made - solid gold set of darts, valued at £30,000.

Littler hammered a slightly shell-shocked Michael van Gerwen 6-2 with a healthy 106 average in their semi-final rematch of January's World Championship final before breezing past Aspinall in the final with an average of a ton and five 180s.

"With Luke losing I was just concentrating on my own game - coming off the back of the UK Open win I was playing well and I thought I played really well again to win another trophy here," Littler told Sky Sports.

"My main goal is obviously the top four - whether first, second, third or fourth, just make it to the O2 and that's when the proper title defence takes place."

"I saw the first nine-darter, but missed the second," Littler added in his press conference.

"I feel very comfortable - I just throw my darts. 

"As the game goes on, whoever I'm playing, their heads drop as I've got three legs on them.

"The run I'm on at the minute, I want to pick up the title in Belgium and hopefully make it back-to-back (Premier League wins)."

MVG hammered Gerwyn Price 6-3 in the night's opening fixture before Littler narrowly avoided a banana skin against Chris Dobey, who missed multiple chances to pull away from the Nuke early doors before succumbing to a 6-5 loss.

Nathan Aspinall breezed past Stephen Bunting 6-2 to round out the opening ties.

The overall result leaves Littler trailing Humphries by just two points at the top of the table as we approach the halfway mark of the season.

The Premier League continues with Night Six at the Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham, on Thursday, March 13th.

Catch up with all the results from the Premier League