It was a frustrating night in Exeter for Michael Smith as he was defeated at the Premier League Darts quarter-final stage by Nathan Aspinall, 6-3.

“The Bully Boy” remains in second place after night five, and is now six points behind Michael van Gerwen, who won his second night of this year’s Premier League.

“The Asp” won four consecutive legs to take out Smith, including a crucial break of throw, taking out 116 to make it 4-3 to gain control in the game.

On his way to victory, “The Green Machine” van Gerwen overcame Gerwyn Price, 6-3. In the third leg, both players were struggling on the doubles, before Price finally hit double two to make it 2-1.

At 3-1, Price looked in control, but “Mighty Mike” managed to win five legs in a row to move on to the semi-final stage.

Elsewhere, Dimitri Van den Bergh defeated Chris Dobey 6-3 to advance to the semi-final. In the third leg, Dobey narrowly missed double 12 and Van den Bergh managed to hit bullseye to break the throw and lead 2-1.

“The DreamMaker” moved within a leg of the match with a brilliant 140 finish, hitting ‘tops-tops’.

He then completed the victory with a 121 checkout.

In the other quarter-final, it was yet another defeat for Peter Wright in the Premier League, as he was narrowly beaten by Jonny Clayton, 6-5.

There was not much to separate the two players, which was shown in the sixth leg when Wright took out 80 to hold this throw well. “Snakebite” also took out 84 to take the game to a deciding leg.

Despite an improved performance from the Scotsman, Clayton managed to edge him in the deciding leg, leaving Wright still searching for his first win in the Premier League.

At the semi-final stage, van Gerwen got past Aspinall, 6-4. In the third leg, it was looking promising for “The Asp”, as he managed to break MvG’s throw, hitting two double 19s to take out 94, and lead in the game 2-1.

However, Aspinall made a costly mistake when he was leading 3-2, as he missed two darts at double 12, letting van Gerwen take advantage to make the game all square.

“Mighty Mike” then gained control of the match and won 6-4 to progress to the final in Exeter.

In the other semi-final, Jonny Clayton produced an impressive performance to overcome Van den Bergh, 6-2. The game was tightly contested, until “The Ferret” opened up a two leg lead, taking out 116 to make it 4-2.

Clayton progressed to his first final of the campaign with a 6-2 win.

Michael van Gerwen claimed his second night of the tournament with a 6-3 win over Clayton.

The world number three was dominant in the early stages, moving into a 3-0 lead. Clayton managed to fight back and break MvG’s throw to make it 4-3.

Van Gerwen managed to secure the last two legs, winning back-to-back nights to move clear of the world champion Michael Smith, who will be looking to bounce back next week at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.

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