Nathan Aspinall took down Dirk van Duijvenbode 10-5 in a game that saw neither player at their best, but for 'The Asp' most importantly it is a win after opening up his Premier League account with defeat and after recent struggles that he opened up about.
As well as the torrent of vile social media abuse that he has received and he asked those giving him abuse to just let him play and let him get back to his best instead of putting him down amid the darting cauldron that is the elite which sees Aspinall involved in the Premier League which by his own admission is the worst for form woes.
"It's hard. Everyone always says that darts players are the most accessible on
social media and some of the abuse I'm getting is disgusting. People forget that we are human beings, we're not just dart players and yeah I'm going through a rough patch.
"I'm the first man to admit that I'm struggling at the moment and I'm in the hardest possible tournament in our sport when you're struggling (Premier League). But I still turn up every week, I still try my best. Give the guys a break, it's bloody hard this game."
"I've won this game against an underpar Dirk (van Duijvenbode) who's got an injury and I was underpar and I won. Let me play my game and stop give me s*** because I'm struggling and let me go and concentrate and I'll be back."
He also said it has intensified due to him and Peter Wright being included in the Premier League which in the minds of some wasn't deserved due to form in the back end of 2023. "For the last two months. Down to us to get avenues in place to stop the abuse coming through to me personally. But me and Peter are getting it in the Premier League and Thursday night didn't go how I wanted it to go. But what they forget is that it's really hard, darts isn't easy."