‘There’s hope for us yet’ – Luke Littler shocks darts fans as he misses two SINGLES in Players Championship loss
DARTS fans have joked there is hope for everyone after Luke Littler made a horror gaffe in the Players Championships.
Littler, 18, made it to the quarter-finals of Players Championship 10 in Leicester.
On the day Target Darts revealed a hotly-anticipated showdown between Littler and Phil Taylor, Littler marked a dramatic improvement in his performance.
At Players Championships 9 the day prior, also in Leicester, Littler had been knocked out in the third round by Ian White.
But this time the world champion made it to the quarter-finals to face Scott Williams, his best result since making the semi-finals at Players Championships 5 on March 11.
Littler took the opening leg against Williams but was unable to gather any more wriggle room for error all the way up to when the World No2 was leading 3-2.
Williams, 35, then raced into a 5-3 lead before Littler replied to bring the score to within one leg.
The Nuke whittled down the shots to give himself a score of 25 to end the leg on.
However, Littler then proceeded to miss two shots at a single.
He landed his first throw on 20 while aiming for five, which would have set him up for a double 10.
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This forced him to change targets to three to then go for double one, but Littler only managed to hit the 19 which left him bust with no score.
Littler was seen facepalming as he realised he had missed two easy shots for a player of his calibre.
Shaggy then showed Littler how it was done as he hit a double 20 to checkout and win the game 6-4.
The match ended with Littler averaging 92.98 against Williams’86.90.
Reacting on social media, one fan said: “Luke Littler just missed two single numbers, there’s hope for us all yet.”
A second said: “Littler was either really tired or lost the plot. After the 3rd to 4th leg it just went completely downhill big time. My mouth dropped to the floor. What on earth happened?”
A third added: “Even Luke Littler misses the big numbers sometimes.”
Littler had previously been in imperious form, winning three of the last four Premier League Nights, including back-to-back victories in the last two, and the UK Open at the start of March.
Williams would go on to make the semi-finals of the tournament before he was beaten 7-5 by eventual champion Josh Rock.
Rock thrashed Cameron Menzies 8-4 in the final.
Premier League Darts 2025: Dates and venues
Night 1 – Belfast: Humphries beat Dobey 6-1
Night 2 – Glasgow: Littler beat Humphries 6-5
Night 3 – Dublin: Price beat Aspinall 6-3
Night 4 – Exeter: Humphries beat Littler 6-4
Night 5 – Brighton: Littler beat Aspinall 6-3
Night 6 – Nottingham: Price beat Littler 6-3
Night 7 – Cardiff: Littler beat Van Gerwen 6-4
Night 8 – Newcastle: Littler beat Humphries 6-1
Night 9 – Uber Arena, Berlin – Thursday April 3
Night 10 – AO Arena, Manchester – Thursday April 10
Night 11 – Rotterdam Ahoy, Rotterdam – Thursday April 17
Night 12 – M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool – Thursday April 24
Night 13 – Utilita Arena, Birmingham, Thursday May 1
Night 14 – First Direct Arena, Leeds – Thursday May 8
Night 15 – P&J Live, Aberdeen – Thursday May 15
Night 16 – Utilita Arena, Sheffield – Thursday May 22
Play-Offs – The O2, London – Thursday May 29