Darts star issues public apology for ‘s*** show’ at Players Championship on opening night | Other | Sport

Darts star Chris Dobey took to social media to apologise for his performance following a ‘s*** show’ against Nathan Aspinall.

The Newcastle-born star slipped to a disappointing 6-1 defeat during a match that had at one point looked as if it might’ve ended in a whitewash.

Aspinall, who has struggled for form in the second half of the year, had been 4-0 up before Dobey registered his first leg of the first-to-six contest.

The Asp finished the job by winning the next two legs, averaging over 90 and outscoring his opponent in every department.

Dobey was less than impressed with his performance though, not least because he entered the tournament as the No.1 seed.

Posting on X, the world No.15 said: “That was an absolute shit show tonight i apologise to everyone for making you sit through that I was abysmal.

“Need to seriously get my act together before the worlds I dunno what’s happened to me I just can’t seem to play on stage.”

It’s been a chastening couple of months for the Englishman, who was also knocked out of both the European Championship and World Grand Prix in the opening round. 

Even worse than that, the former World Championship quarter-finalist didn’t even qualify for this month’s Grand Slam in Wolverhampton. 

Speaking before this weekend’s Players Championship Finals, Dobey had said: “Missing out on the Grand Slam did hurt, because I feel like I deserved to be in it.”

The 34-year-old will now face a nervous wait ahead of next month’s Worlds at the Alexandra Palace, with Dobey entering the tournament starved of confidence and in dismal form. 

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