Luke Humphries pleaded with himself to fix up after being left “frustrated” by his recent form at the oche. The world No.1 ended a three-match losing streak with a nervy victory over Boris Krcmar in his first match at the European Darts Trophy.
After losing to Gian van Veen in the Players Championship 6 final earlier this month, Humphries failed to register a win in either of the following two Premier League nights. Most recently on Thursday, the 2024 world champion blew a three-leg lead against Michael van Gerwen before going on to lose 6-4 against the Green Machine.
It looked as if history was about to repeat itself against world No.119 Krcmar at the event in Germany, when Humphries once again let a three-leg lead slip. However, unlike mid-week, Humphries’ opponent was unable to punish him, with the Premier League runner-up keeping his cool to eventually secure the final two legs he needed for progression into the last 16.
Unhappy with his performance, Humphries reacted to the tense win by telling PDC TV: “I thought he [Krcmar] played really well, there was that one leg where he missed a lot of darts, maybe cost him the game in the end. It’s a lot of wires again, it’s on the wire, I need to change that.
“It’s frustrating for myself, I come up here feeling really good but it’s just not happening. I thought he was brilliant there, nice to get back to winning ways.”
Asked why he spent time practising on the stage alone before the session got underway, Humphries added: “I’m a perfectionist. I feel like, I’m playing okay but not getting the results. Wanted to get up here, get the feel for the throw and remind myself I can do it on the big stage. Of course, it wasn’t my best performance, but I hit a few good finishes at the right time there. I love playing on the European Tour and losing in the first round two weeks ago was a little bit disappointing.”
Setting himself a challenge, Humphries concluded: “Now I can put it right and have a good run this weekend. I’ve only won one big stage title this year [so far], the last few years it’s been going better than that. I really feel up for it this weekend, I want to prove something for myself and maybe pick the title up.”
Humphries will now come up against Michael Smith in the third round of action on Sunday at the European Darts Trophy. Elsewhere during Saturday’s action, Gary Anderson, Van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price all progressed into the next stage.
