Coverage of the Premier League continues on Sunday night from 7pm on Sky Sports Action
Monday 31 August 2020 16:44, UK
Gerwyn Price overcame Michael van Gerwen on Night 11 of the Premier League, while Peter Wright hit a nine-darter but still fell to Daryl Gurney.
Glen Durrant staged a dramatic comeback to rescue a point in Milton Keynes, as Nathan Aspinall breathed fire into this play-off bid.
Peter Wright was left scratching his head walking off the stage. He had hit a perfect leg along with nine 180s, but still ended up on the losing side.
Daryl Gurney was the faster of the two out of the traps, storming into a 4-0 lead. That included two impressive breaks of throw; one finished on a 164 checkout and the other in 11 darts.
However from there, Snakebite clicked into gear. He battled back to 4-5, but Super Chin kept his nose in front with a 141 out-shot to lead 6-4.
Wright needed something special, but few could have predicted just how special. Three visits to the oche: 180, 180, 141 and the reigning world champion had his first televised nine-darter in the books.
But there was still work to do, and it was the Irishman who finished the job, grinding out a 8-6 victory.
Michael van Gerwen's troubles continued in the Premier League, as he suffered his third defeat in four nights at the Marshall Arena. However, it wasn't necessarily down to a poor performance from the world number one, but more about the showing of his opponent, Gerwyn Price.
Indeed, MVG found himself trailed 5-1, despite averaging 105.
And the Iceman flexed his muscle with big scoring throughout, along with three ton-plus finishes; the most impressive of which was a 122 out-shot which gave him a 7-2 cushion.
Eventually the Welshman sealed a 8-4 win, just his second ever triumph against the Dutchman as he moves up to sixth place in the table. The result also means that the reigning champ drops out of the top four on leg difference.
Gary Anderson looked to be on the brink of snapping Glen Durrant's hot-streak, leading the three-time Lakeside champ 7-3.
However, Duzza did what he does best, as he dug in and refused to lie down and rescued a draw from what was a perilous situation. There were elements of luck involved for the Englishman, of course, as Anderson missed seven match darts.
The Middlesbrough man hit three big checkouts; 138, 117 and 116, but his standard of finishing was far below his usual high standards. He missed 17 darts at the outer ring in the match, and that was a factor in him finding himself so far behind early in the match.
But it goes down as a missed opportunity for the Flying Scotsman, who didn't do a huge amount wrong for the bulk of the contest, winning four legs in succession to take the 7-3 lead.
Nonetheless, the spoils were shared. With the point, Durrant takes another step closer to the play-offs.
For the second time in three nights, Michael Smith suffered a 8-6 defeat at the hands of Nathan Aspinall.
The Asp was the better of the two players for much of the contest, but didn't make it count on the scoreboard as the Bully Boy showed his battling qualities to stay in contention.
It was finely poised at 6-6, but Smith missed two shots at D20 on his own throw to gain a point. That allowed the Stockport native to swoop in for a break of throw. The 2019 UK Open champion kicked on from there to hold throw and gain another valuable win.
In his debut Premier League season, Aspinall remains on course for the play-offs as he continues to deliver big results.
Coverage of the Premier League continues on Sunday night from 7pm on Sky Sports Action.
