Aspinall after maiden World Matchplay win on full fan return: "They put a smile on my face for the first time in a long time playing darts"

Nathan Aspinall edged through the test of Mervyn King to secure his maiden victory at the World Matchplay with 'The Asp' producing when it mattered on the Winter Gardens stage.

A vocal player in terms of his want for crowds to return to help his game, he got his wish and they duly delivered for him which he admitted he lives for as a professional darts player.

"It was fantastic. We got asked beforehand do we want to do the walk-on, I'm like yeah, crowd surf if you want. Us as darts players we live for big tournaments like this, big crowds, big atmosphere. What a night," said Aspinall post match.

"They put a smile on my face for the first time in a long time playing darts."

"I love the party atmosphere but because I've not had it for so long, I maybe interacted a little too much. At the end of the day, I managed to pull myself away from that and I hit crucial shots at crucial times."

But for Aspinall, it hasn't all been as good as his opening win with a positive Covid test and the rigours of that threatening to derail 'The Asp'.

"It's been really tough. Away from darts, we've been renovating our house. We finally moved back into our house three weeks ago, had Covid, we were really poorly with it for five days. It wasn't nice."