Injured Aspinall eases through

Aspinall overcame injury to pick up three wins from three

Nathan Aspinall avoided joining the list of high-profile names who have crashed out of the PDC Home Tour, as he topped Group 10 on Sunday night.

The Stockport native won all three of his matches, despite his preparation being far from ideal as he sustained ankle injuries in recent days from running.

“The first day [of running] went really well. I did 3k,” he explained ahead of the action. “The second day, I did the same again. Woke up the day after, ankles were an absolute mess. I tore ligaments in both my ankles.

“Needless to say, I’m back on the takeaways and I’m not running anymore!

“The last couple of days, I’ve barely been able to walk. I’ve not played for a couple of days. But I’m missing the darts. I thought ‘it’s only a few hours, I can bear the pain for a few hours and hopefully play some good stuff’.”

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Nathan Aspinall has been suffering in lockdown as his good intentions to start running caused him to tear ligaments in both his ankles

Nathan Aspinall has been suffering in lockdown as his good intentions to start running caused him to tear ligaments in both his ankles

Nonetheless, the former UK Open champion didn’t seem to be overly affected by the injuries, as he hit four 180s en route to a 5-2 opening win over Steve Brown.

Next up, ‘Relentless’ Ryan Joyce lived up to his moniker, as he stormed into a 4-1 lead against Simon Stevenson. Although he suffered from a bit of white-line fever in the sixth leg, missing two match darts, he eventually sealed a 5-2 victory to keep pace with Aspinall at the top of the table.

In the third match of the evening, both Brown and Stevenson needed a win to stay alive in the competition. And it was ‘The Bomber’ who seized the opportunity, sealing a 5-1 win to keep his hopes alive. It was a victory founded on impressive doubling, as he found D20 in each of the five legs he won to keep in touch with the leaders.

In the top-of-the-table clash, it looked to be going all the way, with each of the first five legs going on throw. However, the Asp got a crucial break of throw, which he used as a springboard for a 5-2 victory with a 98.5 average.

Brown kept his faint hopes alive, by coming back from 0-3 to beat Joyce 5-3. However, it ultimately proved academic as ‘The Asp’ made it three wins from three with a dominant 5-1 triumph over Stevenson to top the table.

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Jamie Lewis, Luke Woodhouse, Dave Chisnall, Geert Nentjes, Nick Kenny, Ryan Searle, Jelle Klaasen, Jonny Clayton and Martijn Kleermaker have topped the other opening groups up to this point.

All matches are the best of nine legs (first to five), and the winners of each group progress to a second phase.

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