Jonny Clayton says Premier League success in Glasgow is ‘a great honour’

Jonny Clayton described as a “great honour” his impressive victory on night three of the BetMGM Premier League season in Glasgow.

In his quarter-final Clayton beat Gerwyn Price 6-3 – ending a run of 10 straight defeats against his fellow Welshman – then thrashed world champion Luke Littler 6-1, after the 19-year-old went straight into the semi-final due to the absence of Michael van Gerwen, who missed out due to illness.

Clayton was again in fine form in the final, comprehensively beating 23-year-old Dutchman Gian van Veen – playing in his second final in three weeks – 6-2 with a magnificent 156 checkout to go top of the table with nine points.

The 51-year-old said:  “Yeah, it’s a great honour to win one of these nights against these players.

“The first job was trying to get Gerwyn out…that little thing of losing to him 10 times. That was a big relief really because I’ve had a few chances against him before, but not taken them.

“It was nice to get that monkey off my back. It really was.

“You think, how do I beat him? I need to take my chances, what do I do to do this?

“So tonight it worked for me, I was quite solid against him and it was just my night and I am chuffed to bits with that. So tonight I took my chances and it just got better.

“I didn’t expect to beat the best darts player on the planet 6-1 and then to beat Gian in the end, you know, it’s my night. It’s my night, and that’s all that counts.

“I was nervous in that first game against Gerwyn, Luke didn’t play to his best but I took my chances and that is the game of darts.

“You need a bit of luck. Obviously you need to play well but if he doesn’t hit and I do, then the ball’s in my court and that’s what happened tonight.

“It put a smile on my face.”

Littler was blown away by Clayton in a one-sided last-four clash after levelling to make it 1-1.

In his quarter-final Clayton raced into a 2-0 lead over Price and kept his nose in front at 3-1, 4-2 and 5-3 before clinching it 6-3.

In the first semi-final, van Veen came from 3-1 down to beat reigning champion Luke Humphries 6-5 in a thrilling encounter.

Humphries led 1-0, 3-1 and 4-2 but van Veen kept chasing. Humphries missed the bull for 5-3 which allowed van Veen to draw level at 4-4 then hit a double 14 at the second attempt to go 5-4 ahead. Humphries levelled but van Veen came through in the end.

In his quarter-final, van Veen averaged over 104 to beat Stephen Bunting 6-3. Humphries had shown his class in his opener to win 6-2 against Northern Irishman Josh Rock.