Luke Littler remained unfazed by the hostile reception from the Rotterdam crowd during Night 11 of the Premier League Darts, stating it was 'exactly what I expected'. Littler faced booing from the crowd throughout his three matches, a continuation of the tension that began after his spat with Dutch No 1 Gian van Veen from Night Nine in Manchester. Van Veen had won a contentious match where Littler reacted angrily to Van Veen's actions during match darts, with Van Veen accusing Littler of being 'out of order' for celebrating towards the crowd.
Littler went on to reach the final again in Rotterdam but lost to Premier League leader Jonny Clayton. 'It was exactly what I expected, the boos and whistles,' Littler told Sky Sports. 'But I knew as soon as I got on stage I could do my job.' Prior to his opening match against Gerwyn Price, Littler had vowed not to react to the crowd's taunts, but he couldn't resist responding in his semi-final clash with Luke Humphries.
When he leveled the match at 2-2, Littler gave a 'calm down' gesture to a section of fans and added some flamboyant flourishes with his darts in the next leg. Sky Sports' Wayne Mardle noted, 'Littler said he will not react, but he has just reacted - and they don't like it! I think he's had enough of not reacting.
He is strutting and really giving it now. When he has this swagger, he's hard to deal with.' Littler won against Price and edged out Humphries before ultimately losing to Clayton in the final. Clayton's win stretched his lead over Littler to five points at the top of the table, with Clayton praising Littler after the final, saying, 'I've got total respect for Luke.
He's absolutely amazing. This guy has got years ahead of him, an amazing darts player - and he's shown us all the level we need to be to beat him.'