Luke Littler's verdict on the crowd during his World Grand Prix victory over Gerwyn Price speaks volumes after the Welshman was critical on social media.
Littler came back from 2-0 down in sets to defeat Price, who had six match darts, in a last-leg decider at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.
He took out a sublime 152 checkout to win the match in what was a fitting way to end one of the best matches of the year so far.
Price took to Instagram post-match to state that he was 'gutted', before calling on the PDC to start playing majors at 'neutral venues/countries'.
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The Welshman often has the crowd against him in matches played across the UK, and infamously once played an entire set at the 2023 World Darts Championship wearing headphones in protest against the Alexandra Palace crowd that night.
He wrote: "Wow gutted. And this is why we need to play majors in neutral venues/countries, Luke was great in patches at the right time at the end, but I lost that one again."
However, during his post-match press conference, Littler noted that the Leicester crowd were actually in favour of Price during the opening exchanges, and only turned against him when the reigning world champion was winning legs because they wanted the match to last longer.
"It went both ways," he said. "Gezzy went into the lead, the crowd were on his side.
"As soon as I got that one set back, they were back with me, back on my side, because they wanted it to go longer and longer.
"They got their money's worth once again. But I'm just happy to win.
When asked about Price's passionate reactions on stage to winning legs, Littler replied: "I just laugh to myself when he hits his double and holds throw and gives it - I was like, 'You've held your throw Gez, come on'. But that's what he does.
"The whole of that last set, we were both giving it a little bit. I went 2-0 up and said to myself, 'You've guaranteed a hold of throw here', but couldn't hold. Then that last leg decider just had to go."
Topics:Ā Luke Littler, Darts
Ryan Smart