Jonny Clayton overcame a hostile crowd in Aberdeen to win night 11 of the Premier League while Michael van Gerwen took his frustrations out on Russ Bray.
The usually popular Ferret was heckled and whistled for much of the night having beaten Scottish fan favourites Gary Anderson and Peter Wright in his opening two matches of the night.
Clayton hadn't even produced his best darts in either game but despite the crowd still being on his back in his fourth final of the season, he managed to average 103.4 in a thrilling encounter with van Gerwen, who had earlier put Gerwyn Price and James Wade to the sword via 6-3 scorelines.
MVG also averaged 103 and looked on course to win 6-4 when he kicked off the 10th leg with a 180 and a 140 but Clayton hit the same scores in reverse to stay in touch and after surviving a match dart, he broke the Dutchman's throw with a superb 84 finish that completed a classy 11-darter.
The Welshman then raced away to his third nightly victory of the campaign as van Gerwen's game crumbled in the deciding leg before he exchanging heated words with referee Bray, presumably over the handling of the crowd.
"By Night 16 I don't care where I am as long as I'm in the top four," said Clayton. "The crowd were on my back all night as you'd expect with playing two Scottish guys but I got on with it.
"I did my job in the last leg and pulled through to win it. To beat Michael puts a smile on my face.
"Every time Michael and I play it's a good game. There have been a lot of times when I've stood behind Michael and lost 6-0 or 6-1 but you pick little things up off him to improve your game."
Clayton now moves above MVG to the top of the table on 26 points while beaten semi-finalists Wright and Wade, who beat Joe Cullen and Michael Smith in the first-round respectively, are sitting comfortably in the play-off spots.
Price averaged just 92 compared to MVG's 107 in the quarter-final and now finds himself four points behind Cullen and a further five adrift of the top four but Smith and Anderson have serious work to do at the foot of the table.
Premier League night 11 results and averages
Quarter-Finals
- Jonny Clayton (93.53) 6-2 (87.44) Gary Anderson
- Peter Wright (103.22) 6-5 (96.08) Joe Cullen
- James Wade (89.74) 6-5 (91.04) Michael Smith
- Gerwyn Price (92.1) 3-6 (106.93) Michael van Gerwen
Semi-Finals
- Jonny Clayton (96.21) 6-5 (99.6) Peter Wright
- James Wade (88.25) 3-6 (99.84) Michael van Gerwen
Final
- Jonny Clayton (103.4) 6-5 (102.76) Michael van Gerwen
Premier League Table & Format
NW = Nights won, RU = Runner-up, SF = Semi-final defeats, MW = Matches won
- Clayton NW 3 RU 1 SF 4 MW 15 LegD +13 Pts 26
- MVG NW 3 RU 2 SF 2 MW 15 LegD +41 Pts 25
- Wade NW 1 RU 3 SF 3 MW 12 LegD 0 Pts 20
- Wright NW 1 RU 1 SF 7 MW 11 LegD +1 Pts 20
- Cullen NW 1 RU 2 SF 2 MW 9 LegD -4 Pts 15
- Price NW 1 RU 0 SF 3 MW 6 LegD -9 Pts 11
- Smith NW 0 RU 2 SF 1 MW 5 LegD -15 Pts 8
- Anderson NW 1 RU 0 SF 1 MW 4 LegD -15 Pts 7
Each night will see quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final played over the best of 11 legs (first to six). Each player will meet the other seven players twice over the course of the season in a quarter-final game, plus two further nights (Night Eight and Night 16) will feature additional fixtures in the same format. Those fixtures will be a draw bracket based on how the league table looks at the time. So, whoever is top will face the eighth-placed player in the first round.
- Night Winner - 5 points + £10,000 bonus
- Runner-Up - 3 points
- Semi-Finalists - 2 points
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