COMEBACK king Dave Place ranked his latest Blackburn Premier League Darts triumph as the best of the lot after beating Lancashire captain Dougie Smith.

Place trailed 6-1 and then 10-5 against the St Helens ace before rattling off eight legs in a row to secure a truly stunning 13-10 victory.

The Blackburn darter has now won every Blackburn Premier League event since its launch four years ago — the three previous wins were over brother Darren.

But this was the pick of the bunch.

“I’ve beaten my brother in the last three finals but this was easily the best of the lot,” said Place who admitted he thought his winning run was about to come to an end. “When I was trailing 10-5 I thought I had lost. I knew I could pull a few legs back but not enough to win. But to win eight in a row was fantastic.

“I even shocked myself!”

The highlight of the night was Place’s maximum 170 checkout (treble 20, double 20, bullseye) to open up a decisive 12-10 lead — one leg after he had taken the lead for the first time on the night.

“I didn’t start that badly but where I was missing my doubles, Dougie was hitting every one,” added the 43-year-old county player. “Dougie is a class act and has been in the Lancashire set up for years.

“However, everything started to click and suddenly I was getting those doubles I was missing earlier. And getting that big check-out was a bit special.”

The grand final, held at the Manxman pub, saw the top four players who qualified from the league format go head to head.

In the first semi final, Place beat John Phillips 10-2 while Smith was equally as impressive to beat Ian Leaver 10-1.

The third and fourth play-off saw Leaver beat Phillips 4-0 before the main event.

“The place was electric,” said Brian Gouldthorpe who founded the Premier League concept back in 2005. “It was a very partisan crowd for the final considering Dave is from Blackburn and Dougie is from St Helens.

“Mind you, they were pretty subdued as Dougie took control but when Dave mounted that incredible comeback the pub went wild.

“I thought they were going to lift the roof off!”

He added: “Dave has made this competition his own. He rises to the challenge every year and just seems to get better all the time.

“He has won every one of these but I think this has to be the best of the lot considering the way he came from behind to beat the Lancashire captain.

“It doesn’t really get better than that.”