HUMP ENDS JINX TO DUMP NUKE
27/02/2025 By Aaron Nijjar
By Phil Lanning
LUKE HUMPHRIES ended his Premier League jinx to finally beat big rival Luke Littler.
‘Cool Hand’ came from behind in the final to dump ‘The Nuke’ 6-4 in Exeter on Thursday night.
Humphries, 30, stretched his lead at the top of the table to seven points ahead of Littler and beat him in the PL for the first time.
He said: “It felt hard work and it felt good. I felt like my game was in a good place.
“Certain moments in the game I struggled. My finishing was good in moments and then it wasn’t so it was a bit strange.
“I managed to put my foot on the gas right at the end of the game. The last two legs were fantastic.
“I said to him at the end ‘I think that’s the first time I’ve beaten you in the Premier League’.
“Honestly it’s a great start, you’re on 15 points after four nights. For me I’d love to win the group. It’s a dream start.”
Rob Cross opened the night with a deciding leg win over Michael van Gerwen. Then Humphries flapped on the doubles but still got over the line to beat Gerwyn Price 6-4.
Nathan Aspinall beat Chris Dobey 6-4 and Littler delivered a record 112.34 average to leave Stephen Bunting pointless after four weeks.
In the semis Humphries managed to come back from 5-4 to squeeze past Voltage in a decider and Littler once again was sensational with a 109.67 average to beat Aspinall comfortably 6-2.
Littler was left fuming after an over-excited man pushed his MUM during his walk-on.
The incident occurred moments before Littler took on Bunting in their quarters clash.
Littler’s mum Lisa was in the VIP section as usual to hug her son on his way to the stage.
However, as the pair linked up, Littler’s mum was barged aside by another fan.
It saw the 18-year-old flare up in anger as his intro music continued playing overhead.
Image by Simon O’Connor.
