Josh Rock (Picture: PDC)

Darts results: Josh Rock lights up Belfast with an epic nine-darter as Stephen Bunting goes on to win the night

By Sporting Life

Darts

Fri February 27, 2026 · 2h ago

Josh Rock hit a fairytale nine-dart finish in front of his home crowd in Belfast but it was Stephen Bunting who went on to win the fourth night of the Premier League season.

Despite Bunting’s success, Rock stole many of the headlines with his stunning nine-darter on home soil, despite succumbing to a 6-2 loss to Van Veen in the quarter-finals.

The 24-year-old, who was trailing Van Veen 5-1, took out two 180s followed by a spectacular 141 finish to send the SSE Arena into raptures.

“To hit a nine-darter as nervous as I was… Holy God!” confessed an elated Rock.

Josh Rock's nine-darter in Belfast is one of the most special we'll ever see. The embrace from Gian van Veen sums it up pic.twitter.com/mTnepXOhfj
— Chris Hammer (@ChrisHammer180) February 26, 2026

“Double 12 hasn’t been good to me the last six months, so when the treble 20 and treble 19 went in, I thought, please go in!

“When it went in, I couldn’t hold the celebrations back in front of my home crowd… wow! Gian was buzzing too!”

Premier League title sponsor BetMGM resultantly rewarded Rock’s nine-darter with the first custom-made set of solid gold darts of the 2026 campaign, worth a staggering £30,000.

“Those golden darts will be in my cabinet forever, knowing that I’ve hit a nine-darter in front of my home crowd,” admitted the Northern Irishman.

“I know I didn’t get the result but I was very happy to hit a nine-darter in front of my home crowd!”

"Where did it come from, you looked like a broken man?"

"Your guess is as good as mine!" 🤣

Heartwarming interview with Josh Rock about his stunning Belfast nine-darter... pic.twitter.com/dkFsjR1jK5
— Chris Hammer (@ChrisHammer180) February 26, 2026

Brilliant Bunting

Meanwhile, Bunting defeated Luke Humphries, Jonny Clayton and van Veen to cap off a wonderful evening and blast to glory in Belfast.

The St Helens star, who had lost his first three games of the season, began his evening with a personal-best Premier League average of 106.63 in beating Luke Humphries 6-4, which included an incredible 75% success rate on the outer-ring.

The former Masters champion then maintained his incredible standard against Clayton, whitewashing the league leader with another average north of 106.

Bunting was tasked with Dutch number one Van Veen in the final, taking an early 2-0 lead before capitalising on missed darts at double from his opponent to break and lead 4-1.

The 40-year-old then closed the match out with a composed 13-darter to claim his first nightly win of the season and shoot up to fifth in the league standings.

“I’m overjoyed to be honest, this has got to rank up there with one of the best wins of my career,” admitted an emotional Bunting, who picked up his first nightly win since April 2025 in Berlin.

“I was a bit emotional early on after my first game and I held it together.

“I’ve had John Terry saying I should be pushing people off the stage, but hopefully I’ve done that tonight with my scoring and my doubles!

“I still believe I’m one of the best players in the world and deserve to be in this Premier League, this goes a long way to say why I should be here.

“The fans in here tonight, wow! These are the nights that I play for."

Van Veen continued to make inroads in his debut Premier League campaign despite falling short to Bunting, reaching his third final in four nights.

The European Champion took the scalp of home hero Rock with a largely dominant display aside from the nine-darter, including a 167 checkout from the world number three.

Van Veen then edged past Gerwyn Price in a deciding-leg thriller, averaging north of 105 and taking out a clutch 68 checkout to record his sixth win in four weeks before ceding to Bunting.

In the other quarter-finals, Clayton defeated Littler for the second successive week to claim his fourth consecutive round one win this campaign.

Price reeled off three straight legs from 5-3 down - including taking the final two legs in a combined 22 darts - to complete a spirited deciding-leg comeback against Van Gerwen.