Nathan Aspinall delivered two goals from nine darts but lost the final as Luke Littler suffers an early exit

Nathan Aspinall threw two goals from nine darts during the 31st Players Championship, but lost in the final – as Luke Littler suffered an early exit.

Aspinall (34 years old) produced perfect darts in a 6-4 win over Irish Steve Lennon in the second round, then repeated this feat in a 6-5 win over German Lucas Fenig in the round of sixteen.

Englishman Aspinall had a 2-0 lead against Dutchman Jermaine Watimena in the final match in Wigan.

However, Wattimena made eight legs on the bounce to clinically overtake Aspinall and claim his second rankings title of the season.

Luke Littler, on the back of his semi-final defeat to Beau Greaves at the World Youth Championships on Monday, suffered a first-round exit as he lost 6-4 to fellow Englishman Richie Edhouse.

The 18-year-old world champion is currently ranked 67th in the Players Championship standings, external He has three events to secure his place among the top 64 teams to qualify for the finals.

Michael van Gerwen also faces the risk of not qualifying after crashing out at the same stage with a 6-4 loss to Dom Taylor.

The Dutchman is 92nd in the table and must now reach the final of the 32nd Players Championship on Wednesday to secure his place as he will miss the final two events due to a previously booked holiday.

There are 34 Players Championship events throughout the year, with the finals taking place in Minehead from 21-23 November.