Peter Wright’s defence never got out of first gear as he lost 6-0 to Jermaine Wattimena only averaging under 75 in the process. Meanwhile Wattimena averaged over 90 and took out a 100 to win the match. Wright struggled throughout and only managed to get down to a double once but never threw for it as his Dutch opponent finished with his next throw. The Dutchman’s reward for knocking out Wright is a tie against James Wade.

Another upset in the first round came in the very next game as Goldfinger Andrew Gilding outscored Luke Littler in almost every department. Both players hit 3 maximums with Gilding ending up just shy of a 99 average. The 30th seed led 3-0 but saw Littler bring it back all square before Gilding got the crucial break in the 10th leg to book his place in the next round. He’ll now be hoping to silence the German crowds on Saturday.

Pokémon Go: Pikachu gives home crowd something to cheer about.

It may have taken 12 first round ties to happen but finally there was something for the German crowd to celebrate as Ricardo Pietreczko came back from 5-3 down to win 6-5 – the first last leg decider of the weekend. Not only did he produce a great comeback but he did in style taking out 64 in the 10th leg before pinging a 102 finish in the decider with Damon Heta sitting on a 2 dart finish in both legs. The German ended the match with a 100 average and 40% on his doubles. In the battle of consistency it was James Wade who prevailed getting the better of Rob Cross with a machine like performance averaging over 100 reeling off 3 legs on the bounce in the middle of the game. Cross threatened a comeback when he made it 4-3 courtesy of a 140 checkout but Wade held on to get the win by a score line of 6 legs to 3.

Elsewhere Jonny Clayton made his way through to the second round. Bizarrely this was the first game of the first round to go over 9 leg. Despite being out scored The Ferret’s clinical doubling helped him out as he finished with 50% success on the outer ring which included a pin point bull in the final leg as he took out 84. His reward for winning? A game against current world number 1 and reigning world champion Luke Humphries – hoping for revenge after losing to Humphries in the World Grand Prix quarter-final.

Luke Humphries showed once again why he is World Number 1 and defending World Champion as he went bonkers in defeating Nathan Aspinall 6-2. Luke hit 7 180’s a highest checkout of 152 and both players went back to back in chasing a 9 dart leg with Humphries having to settle for an 11 darter. In Nathan’s defence apart from a few missed darts at a double he didn’t do too much wrong – that’s how good Humphries was and will be hoping to continue this form into the business end of the season.

The opening match of the night pitted 2 players who needed a win and a good run at the European championships and unfortunately for Joe Cullen’s fans it wasn’t to be his night as Danny Noppert ran out a 6-2 winner. Cullen’s form recently was summed up in this game as despite hitting more 180’s he only managed 12 100+ scores and 2 140’s as he hit an 80 average. Noppert meanwhile hit a 90 average and 50% on his doubles which included reeling in the big fish to round off a decent performance.

The final match of the first round pitted recently crowned World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker and Northern Ireland’s World Cup player Josh Rock and it was The Real Deal who came out on top as he continued his recent good form with a comprehensive 6-1 victory over Rock. De Decker restricted his opponent to only 1 dart at the double whilst he hit 4 maximums and 33% of his doubles. Next up for De Decker is Danny Noppert with both having faced each other a week ago.

European Darts Championship

Round 1 results

Danny Noppert 6-2 Joe Cullen
Chris Dobey 4-6 Jonny Clayton
Rob Cross 3-6 James Wade
Ricardo Pietreczko 6-5 Damon Heta
Peter Wright 0-6 Jermaine Wattimena
Luke Littler 4-6 Andrew Gilding
Luke Humphries 6-2 Nathan Aspinall
Josh Rock 1-6 Mike De Decker