RELIEVED Stephen Bunting finally shed the “money off my back” as he won a Premier League match and then claimed a £10,000 nightly win.
Had the Bullet lost his first-round clash with Nathan Aspinall, he would have lost for the NINTH time in a row – and equalled Peter Wright’s 13-game winless misery run from 2019/20.
Not only did he manage to get his first success, by beating Aspinall 6-2, but he smashed sloppy Luke Humphries 6-2 and then overcame Gerwyn Price in the Berlin final.
Bunting – who has sessions of hypnotherapy to keep calm and positive – won his first Prem games for 10 YEARS.
And after Price, 40, missed two match darts as he was put off by a whistler in the crowd, the St Helens thrower responded to win 6-5, sealing the success with a tremendous 107 finish.
Bunting, 39, said: “After the first win, I was so relieved to get off zero points. I have put in a lot of work behind the scenes. I have given 110% without fail despite losing.
“I have won an event and am so happy. Unbelievable.
“There have been times where I thought: ‘Will I finish on no points?’ To get off the mark is such a special feeling.
“It was a monkey on my back. This takes a lot of pressure off. I hit a nine-darter in the practice room. This will give me huge confidence.”
Luke Littler produced his worst Premier League display this year as he bombed out and was barracked by the Germans.
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The defending Prem champion was not his usual composed self as he was humbled 6-2 by stable mate Chris Dobey in the quarter-finals in the German capital.
It was the fewest legs he has won in a single game in 21 league clashes in 2025 and his average of 93.28 average is his lowest in the tournament over nine weeks.
Littler, 18, gave it to the crowd who were jeering him, putting a finger to his ear, and remonstrating on the oche.
But the local punters had the last laugh as the reigning world champion saw his six-game winning streak comfortably ended – as he wasted 11 out of 13 checkout opportunities.
The Warrington lad heads to Manchester next Thursday – his homecoming event – where he will face his bogeyman Price.
Bunting shrugged off terrible Prem form to get off the mark[/caption]