"Walking around the oche he's absolutely morbid" - Nathan Aspinall admits he struggled to deal with methodical Scott Mitchell at UK Open

2019 UK Open winner Nathan Aspinall kept his hopes alive of a repeat success on Friday night in Minehead, with a 10-6 win over former Lakeside champion Scott Mitchell.

"We got here late last night and I've not slept very well," admitted Aspinall in his post-match press conference, having travelled down after playing in the Premier League Darts on Thursday night, notably taking the weekly win. "I was happy with the draw, but not happy with the draw because he's a very tough player to play against. He's not slow actually throwing the darts but walking around the oche he's absolutely morbid and I really struggled."

Despite to deal with the methodical nature of Mitchell, Aspinall averaged a solidly impressive 96.64 in victory. "I dug deep tonight, it wasn't my best performance. But very happy with the win," he analyses honestly. "I didn't enjoy the game, I enjoyed the result."

As mentioned, Aspinall is coming into some form at just the right time with his victory on Night 5 of the Premier League. Could he add another UK Open triumph to his resume this weekend? "Everyone that's in the last 32 can beat each other. I know obviously Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen are out, but with everyone that's left left in it, the standard of darts in the last six months has gone through the roof. Anyone can beat anyone on any day."