"People saying I was the worst World Champion" - Luke Humphries fires back at critics with run to final on night 3 of Premier League

Luke Humphries gave his best showing of the Premier League Darts season so far on Night 3 in Glasgow. The world champion reached the final before narrowly losing out to Michael van Gerwen.

After a difficult start to his World Championship reign, including a pair of early exits at the opening Pro Tour events of the season, a fired-up Humphries hit back in his post-match press conference. "It was important for myself to play well. Tuesday I was written off with people saying I was the worst World Champion," begins 'Cool Hand Luke'.

"I just wanted to come out and play well, that's what I really wanted to do," continues Humphries, who defeated Nathan Aspinall and Gerwyn Price 6-3 before losing out to van Gerwen 6-5 in the final. "I was quite unlucky not to win that in the end. I think that, I threw really nice darts too, so I'm proud of the way I played today. It was much, much better."

With three nights now having been played, Humphries is currently 4th in the Premier League table. If he keeps that position by the tournament's end, the world number one will be through to Finals Night for the first time in his career.

"I'm where I want to be," Humphries assesses. "I might be the world champion and world number one but this is a learning curve for me. It's my first year so I'm going to try and enjoy it all."