Peter Wright gutted by Premier League darts hometown hammering but makes bullish top four prediction

Peter Wright admits he was gutted at letting down his home crowd in Scotland.

Snakebite was shattered after failing to take advantage of a below-par Michael van Gerwen and losing 6-2 at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro. Wright missed 17 darts at doubles to allow the Dutchman off the hook. The 53-year-old was irritated at his failure to deliver for the 11,000 passionate home fans who chanted his name and backed his bid.

Wright said: “I was gutted I let them down. Even at 5-1 down I was thinking: Michael is not on it, still I could win this game. I couldn’t even punish him. It was one of those games. Annoying. You see them on TV and you see the players and think: Oh he’s playing rubbish and you step up. But I couldn’t find anything. It wouldn’t go in. Maybe I have too much respect for Michael, I don’t know. The crowd was fantastic. It was nice to see a full house and I really appreciate that.”

Wright scored well against Van Gerwen, but could not find his range on the crucial doubles having reached a Pro Tour semi-final two days previously. The Scot said: “My finishing got me out of sticky situations on the ProTour, but my finishing there wasn’t great. Terrible, to be honest.

“But you aren’t playing in front of 10,000 people at a floor tournament. You are playing to a home crowd and that adds extra pressure. It’s hard to deal with, to be honest. I felt great, practice was going really good and maybe in a couple of weeks it might start coming out in the Premier League.”

Wright has no Premier League points after three-straight losses, but said: “I’ll finish in the top four, definitely. I wanted to win here, especially for Scotland and myself, and that’s an annoying thing.”