Luke Littler was beaten in the nightly final by Luke Humphries (Image: Getty)
shrugged off an incident which saw him stare down a fan by setting a new record only minutes later.
‘The Nuke’ played some imperious stuff on Thursday night, averaging more than 112 against and almost 110 against to make it to the nightly final, where he was beaten by .
Some were expecting a sub-par performance from Littler after the teenager arrived in Exeter feeling under the weather. And suspicions that his head was not in the right place will only have grown when a involving the youngster’s mum left him furious.
Ahead of the quarter-final against Bunting, Littler went to hug his mum but appeared to be pushed by a spectator who wanted to shake his hand. The 18-year-old flashed him a cold stare before making his way onto the stage, shaking his head and mouthing ‘no’ as security stepped in to speak to the individual.
Punters backing Littler may have been concerned about the unusual run-in distracting him before a dangerous meeting with Bunting, whose desperation for Premier League points saw him average 104.89.
But Littler somehow found his A game, with the reigning world champion relentlessly peppering the treble and racking up a staggering 10 maximums.
Luke Littler was not happy with a member of the crowd in Exeter (Image: Getty)
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That smashed the Premier League record for a first-to-six-leg match. And Bunting chipping in with six 180s of his own meant their combined total of 16 also set a new benchmark.
Littler’s ability to shake off the pre-match incident so quickly showed that he doesn’t necessarily need to be completely in the zone to play world-class darts. Bunting and Aspinall found that out, with the pair suffering 6-3 and 6-2 defeats respectively at the hands of the world No. 2.
He did come unstuck in the final, however, with Humphries finally breaking his Premier League duck against Littler to extend his lead at the top of the table.
“Littler played fantastic tonight,” ‘Cool Hand’ told . “[He] didn’t play that great in the final and I managed to put my foot on the gas right at the end of the legs. It’s the first time I’ve beaten him in the Premier League.
“It gets harder every time you lose. In Glasgow, I had that problem with my finger, this time I felt a bit more fresh and nothing can stop me. My finishing is what helped me.”