Reigning darts world champion Luke Humphries had a dart disqualified during another frustrating defeat.
Humphries was on top of the darting world at the start of the year, beating Luke Littler to win the world title for the first time in his career. It hasn't been plain sailing since however, with Cool Hand struggling to hit the heights in the tournaments immediately following the Ally Pally showpiece.
The 28-year-old still entered this week's Masters as one of the favourites to lift the title, but was beaten 10-7 by Stephen Bunting in the round of 16. Humphries was greeted by a chorus of boos throughout the match and let his frustrations boil over in the final leg of the match.
The incident occurred when Humphries was trailing 9-7 and hoping to check out 56. But after an errant second dart ended hopes of winning the leg on that visit, he nonchalantly threw his third, hitting double 17.
However, referee Charlie Corstorphine quickly confirmed that his final dart wouldn't count towards his final score as he had crossed the oche before throwing. And fans on social media praised the quick thinking of the match official. "Yep. Great refereeing that and rightly called out," and another adding: "Not a bad start for Charlie's PDC career."
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A third said: "The thing that stood out for me from that game wasn’t the crowd or the bunting win, it was the great call from the referee to disallow a dart. Not something you see often."
Defeat means Humphries has now lost three matches in a row, including a disappointing start to the new Premier League campaign. Fans in MIlton Keynes had sided with Bunting, despite the Bullet pleading with the crowd to not whistle his opponent.
Humphries saw his third dart disallowed during the defeat to Peter Bunting (ITV)Bunting said: "I only heard it in the last leg and I tried to shush the crowd down. I was at the back of the stage because no one wants to win a game like that. But I think I produced a good enough performance to get over the line anyway."
But on the support he received, Bunting added: "It's unbelievable to be honest. The 'Let's go Bunting Mental' hashtag and everything seem to be working. The TikToks I'm doing, just social media in general, it shows a different side of me.
"It shows I'm a human being and a normal person. At Anfield, the crowd is the 12th man and here they got me over the line."
Bunting will take on Peter Wright in Sunday's quarter finals, while Humphries will be hoping to find some form in round two of the Premier League when he faces the same opponent.
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