LUKE LITTLER threw his darts case to the ground in anger as his hoodoo against Gerwyn Price continued in Dublin.
Price, 39, seems to have the magic touch when it comes to facing The Nuke and that was the case in the Irish capital on night three of the Premier League.
The reigning world darts champion, 18, was beaten 6-4 by the Welshman and exited the quarter-finals for the second time this campaign.
Price has now won FOUR times in a row against the world No.2 and his last defeat against the teenager was in Liverpool last April.
It means Littler, 18, will finish the night with no points, a week after he received five points for winning night two in Glasgow.
And as he walked off down the stairs for the exit door, he furiously launched his darts equipment away and moaned under his breath.
Littler was irked by the fact Price was slowing down the rhythm of the game.
And the Warrington lad was not impressed by Price’s pre-match comments that if he brings his “A Game” he would win.
This was a poor match compared to their normal high standards and only really got going midway through when they started playing up to the 9,000-strong crowd.
On Wednesday night, the American rapper Pitbull played a concert at the 3Arena and he posed for photos with Littler and his dad Anthony backstage.
Littler walks out to Pitbull’s Greenlight song and the Irish crowd loved that – and gave his rival the pantomime boos.
When Littler took out leg six, as Price missed two darts to go 5-1 up, he walked towards the crowd and made a ‘calm down’ motion.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Luke Littler sits ringside for Catterall vs Barboza in Manchester..” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6368896124112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]This was a reaction to Price’s roaring celebration earlier in the contest.
But Price sealed another triumph by hitting double top to seal a semi-final clash with Luke Humphries.
He said: “I want to be a tough nut to crack for every player.
“That’s what I used to be. Maybe two or three years ago I was but since then, I’ve slipped off the radar.
“I’m coming back. I probably wouldn’t have won that game without the crowd. They were fantastic for me.
“It was like Cardiff all over. I think they feel sorry for us Welsh rugby players.
“My game is in a great place. My mind is in a good place.”