Nathan Aspinall went for a nine-darter at the World Darts Championship (Image: Sky Sports Darts)
couldn’t help but crack a smile as the crowd at Alexandra Palace reacted to his failed nine-darter attempt on Monday.
The Asp was aiming to make the quarter-finals at Ally Pally knowing he would have to exact revenge on Ricardo Pietreczko, who beat him at the Grand Slam of Darts earlier this year.
The 33-year-old made a storming start, winning the first nine legs without reply as he raced into a 3-0 lead.
And he even gave the crowd hopes of landing the third nine-darter of the tournament to follow the lead of Christian Kist and Damon Heta.
At the start of the fourth set, Aspinall threw two 180s to put himself in the prime position to land the £60,000 prize offered by tournament sponsors Paddy Power.
Aiming for the triple 20 once again, Aspinall’s throw was just shy of the metal wiring and landed on the five. And when they realised the nine-darter was no longer possible, the crowd broke out into a chorus of boos.
Aspinall, clearly recognising the crowd were winding him up, jogged up to the board and made an apparent attempt to collect his dart.
But that was just a ruse, as he pulled a dummy and ran back to the line to size up his next attempt.
Nathan Aspinall’s name was chanted by the crowd during his win over Ricardo Pietreczko (Image: Getty)
Most importantly, he did it all with a big smile and laughed off the supporters’ reaction as they quickly changed their tune.
Chants of “doo doo doodoo doo doo, Nathan Aspinall!” then broke out from around the packed Ally Pally venue.
Aspinall then threw a paltry 41 with his next three darts and received a pat on the back from his opponent Pietreczko, who seemed to be rooting for him to land the nine-darter – even if it would’ve pushed him closer to crashing out.
That is what would happen a short while later anyway, as Aspinall wrapped up a dominant 4-0 victory with a double 16 checkout to clinch his place in the last eight.
SIX PERFECT DARTS!That’s not how it works Nathan!Aspinall cannot follow up back-to-back 180s with the magical 141 checkout, but he wraps up the leg to seize control of set four!
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC)
His victory means that Aspinall will have to amend his plans on New Year’s Eve after being scheduled to face the winner of Luke Littler’s match with Ryan Joyce in the evening session on Monday.
The matchup will take place on New Year’s Day, denying the Stockport native a chance to ring in the year until the early hours of the morning.
“I am usually out to eight o’clock in the morning but it will be different this year with my family and Chris Dobey. I can’t wait for New Year’s Day,” Aspinall said.
With the likes of Luke Humphries, Gary Anderson and Michael Smith all tumbling out, the two-time semi-finalist will fancy his chances of landing a first World Championship title and the £500,000 winners’ prize.