'Everyone needs a friend like Nathan,' cry darts fans after moment with Littler

DARTS fans loved the wholesome moment between Nathan Aspinall and Luke Littler on Thursday night - despite pre-game fighting talk.

The 17-year-old ‘Luke the Nuke’ - who went on to lose to Michael Smith in the semi-final - dominated his close pal on Night 6 of the Premier League Darts in Brighton.

Aspinall, 32, had vowed to “smash” the youngster before the contest but it was him left licking his wounds after a 6-3 loss.

Both Littler and Aspinall have the same management company and regularly practice together, although “The Asp” said that the teen had never got the better of him in training.

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Even though the match did not pan out as expected, the former US Darts Masters and UK Open champ still had a smile on his face.

Littler, who joined Liam Gallagher on the latest episode of The Jonathan Ross Show, was taking a swig from his bottle on stage after reaching the semi-final when a magic moment occurred.

Suddenly, an arm came from behind him and rested on his stomach as Aspinall leant forward and whispered something in his ear as the young gun started to smile.

Littler then burst out laughing as the veteran gave him a playful shove on the side of the head as the pair of them continued to laugh.

The clip soon went viral on social media, and the duo’s supporters absolutely loved what they were seeing for Aspinall.

“Everyone needs a friend like Nathan,” said one response.

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Another said: “Love these two.”

A third commented: “@NathanAspi is like a big brother to @LukeTheNuke180.”

While a fourth added: “Gotta love the Asp. Great banter between the two.”

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The two had, in fact, previously met once before.

That was in a match that saw Littler hit a brilliant nine-darter at the Bahrain Darts Masters. He then went on to beat Aspinall by the same 6-3 scoreline before going on to lift the title in the Middle East back in January.

Littler is still yet to claim the £10,000 weekly winner bonus and went on to suffer disappointment on the South Coast.

He went on to suffer a 6-3 loss to Michael Smith in the semi-final.

Meanwhile, Littler hit a bowlseye this week as he did become the face of a brand new cereal after being snapped up by YouTubers Sidemen to promote BEST.

The breakfast - which launched in Tesco on Tuesday - comes in both Choco Crunch and Caramel Gold flavour.

An ad for the cereal shows Littler tucking into a bowl whilst throwing three blind bullseyes.

Then, after nailing the trio of 50 pointers, the oche icon gave the camera a cheeky eyebrow raise that had fans “creasing”.

That came after Littler complained of feeling sick during a match at Butlins over the weekend because he had missed breakfast.