Cheered Danny Noppert mainly points to himself after ‘sloppy’ loss: ‘Far below my ability’ | Sport

In Blackpool, two of the four compatriots were already eliminated in the opening round. Three-time winner Michael van Gerwen was surprised by Brendan Dolan, while Raymond van Barneveld wondered aloud last night whether “this is all worth itDanny Noppert and Dirk van Duijvenbode did win their matches, so they could compete for a place in the quarterfinals today and tomorrow in the iconic Empress Ballroom.

Number 8 in the world Noppert and his opponent Nathan Aspinall, who is one place lower, know each other well. The two met each other four times on the European Tour this year. The first two meetings went to The Freezethe two most recent parties fell prey to The Asp. “I have a lot of respect for Danny. We always make great duels and I believe that he is one of the most underrated players in the world,” said a warned Aspinall about the Dutchman.

From the start of the game it was Aspinall who was the better scorer. Noppert still won his first two legs, but just before the first break started to miss doubles and saw his English opponent take the lead. It then turned out to be difficult for both darters to bring in their own legs. There were breaks back and forth, until Aspinall broke that series to make it 6-4. At the second interruption, Noppert’s average still did not exceed 90 points per inning.

In the remainder of the game, Noppert remained on the rope. It gave him chances for 8-8, but The Freeze couldn’t hit ‘tops’. Moments later, he succeeded via double 12, which he had reached after an excellent 171 score: 9-9. However, the initiative that Noppert had regained for the first time since the fifth leg quickly disappeared. Aspinall struck and finished it in the next leg via double 20, after the Dutchman had just missed an arrow.

In that crucial turn at the end of the match, Noppert was visibly distracted by cheers from the crowd who were on Aspinall’s side. “It’s a bit of a shame, they didn’t want me to win. There really should be another TV tournament in the Netherlands, that would make a difference to me,” he said The Freeze bee via play back. Still, he blamed himself for the defeat. ,,I couldn’t find myself and threw very sloppy, far below par. I just hit the 90 average, which is far below my ability.”

“It was really not my game and I am really disappointed in that. When you get to 9-9 you have to kick in those scores of 140 and 180. But all credits to him, he was the rightful winner in this fighting match”, Noppert ended his analysis. Afterwards, the two met again behind the scenes.

This evening
• Daryl Gurney-Gary Anderson 11-4
• Danny Noppert-Nathan Aspinall 9-11
• Gerwyn Prince – Joe Cullen 11-13
•Michael Smith-Chris Dobey 7-11
Tomorrow evening
• Jonny Clayton – Dimitri Van den Bergh
• Brendan Nolan – Damon Heta
• Luke Humphries – Dirk van Duivenbode
• Peter Wright – Ryan Searle