"Don't want him to have to clean sweep, as much as everyone would love to see it": Luke Humphries looks to stop Luke Littler amid confidence boosting ProTour win

Luke Humphries was back in the winner's circle on Wednesday sealing Players Championship 28 and returning to some semblance of title winning form in his own admission using this week as a bit of practice given that he has barely played in the past few months.

Humphries said that he realised that he had not played much since June and wanted to put it right and sealed what was a third ProTour title in a season defeating Brendan Dolan in the final in the process in order to make it there.

"Obviously today was, well yesterday was more like just, well today, yesterday and today was more like just getting a bit of practice in, you know, because obviously I realised that I'd actually only played one game of darts since the US Darts Masters, like two months ago," he said post final.

"I felt really rusty yesterday and I played okay and then, you know, today I didn't feel like my throw was very natural, it felt a lot snatchy, it was so frustrating because it felt hard work, but when you've got on a win, you kind of, it's a weird feeling because I don't feel like I played very well today, but I got the win and like, yeah, I mean, three wins in this room is really tough in a calendar year, obviously I don't really play very many anyway, so yeah, I think this is like three out of eight or nine and you know, really pleased that I've come back after a long hiatus and, you know, I'm back playing well."

But also then by his own admission, he added that he struggled getting to the latter stages in terms of fatigue after spending the last few months basically off the oche including an early loss at the World Matchplay. But that in the long run it will help him.

"I struggled. I think you see it in the final there, like my arm had literally just almost fell off, it was so hard, I was like pushing and pulling and just, yeah, like my arm was so tired and I think that's just a natural thing of like, when you're not doing it a lot, like I haven't really practiced a lot since like, obviously my holiday and before that and, you know, when you're not used to playing for so long, like six, seven, eight hours in the day, yeah, it's like you have to try and do it all over again, so obviously it was standing in good stead.

"But I can't lie and say that today was easy, it was really, really tough and maybe I got away with a few results and maybe even got away with one a little bit there, but, you know, I think that, you know, sometimes you just got to ride your luck and hopefully you go and pick the title and obviously today is a special day for me to go on and pick it up as well."

Humphries had a situation towards the end of the final where he tried going for 60 and went outside the board giving himself only one match dart for the finish. But he managed to come out of the traps next leg to go 140, 140, 180 and then sealed the win from there. "I mean, that dart for 60, I just honestly, I think I've done it before, I don't know why I do it, I just feel like I'm desperate not to like snatch it or pull it and hit it in the triple 20, so I just tried it, I like to get like really tough with the wire and I tried being too acute and yeah, if that would have cost me, you probably would have walked away and gone like, you know, what the hell are you doing, but, you know, it's a nice leg in the end.

"I felt like the pressure got a little bit onto me at the end, I felt like I was trying too hard to close the game out and Brendan's one of them players, he's so steady, so solid, I know he didn't play his best there, but he's really solid and if you can't get in front of you, he'll just keep edging you and edging you and, you know, I had to find my best in that last leg to, you know, I didn't want to go to the last leg to decide.

He returns to World Number Two as a result of this win. But while he knows he can't catch Littler, he wants to try his best to stop him and also build confidence ahead of this weekend and beyond.

"Think that's as good as it gets at the moment, I think I'm about two million away from Luke (Littler), so I think the only way anybody does that is if they win back-to-back world championships, that's going to be tough and, you know, I think he has been, you know, by far the best player over the last, you know, 18 months and he deserves his spot in number one.

"Obviously for me, I'm not really fighting for number two because I've been number one, been number two, you know, been number three, number four, it doesn't bother me because I've been there and I've been where I wanted to be and, you know, I can't argue like when I lost it to Luke, you know, I can't argue because if I was really right about I'd be playing in everything, you know, I just like to play in the top tournaments that I want to play and obviously the World Series in the Premier League does take its toll out of you and, you know, I'm just trying to play in as much as I can and I didn't really need to come here today, but I wanted to because, you know, I want to show my face and, you know, try and get a bit of practice in me and it'll do me well because now obviously going to the weekend and I think I'm going to play at least four of the last five Euro Tours and it might give me some good confidence going into the back end of the big majors because, you know, Luke's won everything and I'm going to be the only one that's trying to stop him, you know what I mean?"

He now heads to the Hungarian Darts Trophy and said that it was all geared towards that and that he now heads there thinking he can win it.

"I've only played that Matchplay in two months, so, you know, I just had to get myself back into it.

"I didn't want to go straight into the Euro Tour this weekend with no practice and, you know, obviously that's the reason I was here, but obviously once you get to the latter stages, like right, okay, well you can go on and win this now and I must admit I didn't really think I'd go on and win one this weekend because of the lack of practice.

"But, you know, I've had two good days, a lot of practice and, yeah, hopefully in the next couple of weeks or a couple of months I can, you know, keep building and obviously I'm going to get back on the practice board at home as much as I can now and I'm going to dedicate the rest of the year to, you know, trying to be my best and trying to push Luke and not just Luke but everyone else because obviously I want to stay at number two, whether that happens or not, I'm going to fight for it because I'm going to try my best."

Asked if it does give him that extra confidence, he said that it does but that also he has his eyes firmly set on not allowing Littler to have the major clean sweep he wants and craves.

"100%, yeah, it's good confidence because, like I said, I didn't really play my best but I still managed to, you know, go on and win so, you know, I don't think like a lot of people have played their best this last two days, to be fair, it's been funny but, you know, Luke hasn't played his best either, I had a couple of good runs, he won't care, you know, obviously I'm kind of just looking about trying to get a bit of practice, like I said.

"I've done that so for me now it's about putting in the dedication for the rest of the year because obviously I want to go on and win a major, you know, I don't want him to have to clean sweep, as much as everyone would love to see it, I'd love to win one this year and go into the World's in a bit of confidence so this will do me good and, you know, I'm going to enjoy tonight and, you know, just enjoy the moment."