Jose de Sousa has continued his push towards the
Premier League Darts play-offs as he edged past stablemate and fellow high-flier, Dimitri van den Bergh 8-6.
De Sousa let Van den Bergh into the tie in the end as he went 7-4 up before going to a final leg but he closed it out in the end with a 100 average to remain firmly in the hunt for finals night.
De Sousa produced a brilliant start to the tie opening a 3-1 lead over Van den Bergh while averaging 106.3 and 75% on the doubles as he looked to bring his prior Premier League form to the stage.
This continued as he held throw to stretch his lead to 4-1. Van den Bergh kept on his coattails sat at 4-2 but De Sousa converted double eight to head back into a three-leg lead at 6-3 up.
Van den Bergh was on the verge of defeat as he squandered three darts at double and De Sousa secured at least a point at 7-4.
But this is where De Sousa started to falter as he missed bull for a 164 and the match and Van den Bergh broke back at 7-6 down as he forced a last leg but in the end, 'The Special One' got it down to emerge with a pivotal points haul in his play-off push.