Luke Littler loses to Michael Smith in first round of Premier League night eight… with the teenager clinging onto play-off spot following loss as Luke Humphries storms to another victory

Luke Littler suffered a first round defeat on the eighth night of the Premier Darts League in Dublin on Thursday as Luke Humphries claimed another victory.

The 17-year-old entered the evening third in the Premier League table with hopes of consolidating his place in the top four and the play-off places with ten games remaining.

The nature of the evening saw the fixtures decided by table state, with Littler facing Michael Smith, who was sixth in the standings after a tough run after winning the first night in Cardiff.

Littler missed the target to pull out 164 in the first leg against the throw, and he hit a perfect six darts in the third game in his attempt to hit his final nine darter. However, he broke Smith’s throw to take the lead in the tie.

Smith, however, fought back with a check-out of 122 and resumed the match, with both players holding on until the former world champion claimed victory by six sets to four.

Booed by the Irish crowd, world number 1 and championship leader Humphries made easy work of league bottom Peter Wright, who has just one point in eight weeks so far, in the first match of the evening.

Nathan Aspinall and Rob Cross then continued their mini-rivalry as their quarter-final match went down to a decider, with Aspinall on hand to extend his lead over his fellow Brit after knocking out the doubles.

Gerwyn Price then returned to his best by scoring his own victory in the final match against defending champion Michael van Gerwen, whose poor form continued with his fourth consecutive quarter-final defeat.

Aspinall then did his best to defeat Humphries, but the league leaders thrived again, averaging almost 105 in a 6-4 victory.

He faced Smith in the final, who edged Price in the semifinals, in the final, and took a 4–0 lead.

Smith eventually won a stage, but Humphries once again proved he was in a league of his own and claimed a 6-2 victory to extend his lead at the top of the standings to seven points.

Littler will face Humphries in the quarter-final next week in Belfast.