Darts: St Helens ace Bully Boy spurns chance to topple Michael Van Gerwen

Michael Smith is still searching for his first overall win after seven rounds of the £1 million Cazoo Premier League of Darts and currently lies third from the bottom of the table on eight points.

The 31-year-old St Helens ace of the oche will be kicking himself following his failure to even clear the first hurdle in the eight-strong weekly money-spinning competition which runs until June.

Smith had his chances to topple three-times world champion Michael Van Gerwen to move into the semi-final of the Rotterdam event on Thursday night but after levelling the scores at five apiece, he missed two match-winning darts and Van Gerwen stepped in and moved into the semi-final and then the final itself where he lost 6-5 to Bradford’s Joe Cullen.

It was another bitter pill to swallow for Bully Boy who was more than a match for the Dutchman, having a vastly superior scoring average and hitting more 180s than his opponent without delivering the coupe-de-grace

But positions in the table can rapidly change hands as the tournament progresses and Smith will be looking for as many points as possible when he next steps onto the stage.