Luke Littler cupped his ears and sauntered to the oche as boos rained down from the crowd in Leeds on Thursday night.
The Manchester United fan faced a tidal wave of acclaim and jeers as he stepped up for Night 15 of the Premier League Darts season.
Littler, 17, is developing a thick skin after facing similar derision in Liverpool in April, where he goaded fans following the Reds’ 2-0 defeat by Everton.
In front of a baying crowd of Leeds fans – historical rivals to United – Littler saw his grip on the Premier League pedestal loosen.
The Nuke battered Peter Wright 6-1 in the quarter-finals but succumbed to Michael van Gerwen by the same scoreline in the last four.
World Champion Luke Humphries dispatched Van Gerwen 6-5 in the final to close the gap to Littler to five points.
Littler (38pts), Humphries (33pts), and Van Gerwen (27 pts) have all secured play-off spots while Nathan Aspinall and MIchael Smith will scuffle for the final one at O2 Arena on May 23.
The teenager squandered his first five chances to land a treble, eliciting boos from the crowd, who were all too keen to give him stick.
However, he eventually landed a treble on his sixth attempt and made sure to hit back at his detractors, turning to them, shaking his fist, and smiling.
He pummelled Wright in the quarter-finals, leaving one pundit to speculate about his opponent’s future.
‘Wright just needs this Premier League campaign to end. This might be the last we see of him in the Premier League, you never know. It is a big end to the season for him.’
While Littler has won 22 matches in a stunning debut season, Wright has managed just two victories.
Van Gerwen came flying out of the traps against Littler, hitting an instant 180 and going on to take the first leg.
That awoke some thunder in his opponent, with Littler throwing his first maximum and maintaining a triple-digit score to take the second leg.
From there it was all downhill, however, as Littler lost the next five legs to exit the night with a whimper.
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