Peter Manley was embroiled in more controversy today as he ended the run of Phil Taylor's protege Adrian Lewis to reach the semi-finals of the Ladbrokes.com World Championship in Purfleet.
The 43-year-old, who has a reputation for being something of a pantomime villain within the darts fraternity, won 5-3 thanks to a top-quality performance in a bad-tempered match during which Lewis walked off stage accusing his opponent of gamesmanship.
It was no surprise that tactics were involved in a match featuring Manley, who refused to shake Taylor's hand after his defeat in the 2002 final of this event when claiming he urgently needed to use the toilet, and yesterday kept Dennis Smith waiting on stage while he changed his shirt.
The lucky pink flamingo shirt reappeared today and it worked the oracle for the fifth seed again as he won the first six legs to open a 2-0 lead, taking advantage of Lewis' unsettled state of mind due to the amount of time Manley was taking to retrieve his darts from the board.
Lewis was expressing frustration but he got off the mark before a brilliant 160 checkout from Manley made it 3-1, and in the next set the simmering tension between the pair boiled over.
With Lewis leading 2-1 in legs having just hit double top, the 20-year-old was toeing the oche again when he suddenly stood back and walked off stage, appearing to claim that Manley had spoken when he was about to throw.
After composing himself backstage and a short conversation with referee Russ Bray, Lewis returned and gained the one leg he needed to make it 3-2, only for Manley to hit another superb finish, this time a 101, to regain his two-set cushion.
The Stoke youngster kept his hopes alive by winning set seven but Manley would not be denied and a 106 out-shot, living up to his nickname of 'One Dart' at double top, wrapped it up, the contest ending with a terse handshake.
Manley, chairman of the Professional Darts Players' Association, defended his actions and insisted it was all part of a learning process for Lewis.
"It was very hot on stage and blood boiled," he said. "There were a few little incidents and maybe Adrian wanted to blame someone else because he didn't play as well as he had all week.
"He's only 20, he's being taught by Phil Taylor and I learned a lot from Phil Taylor when I was beaten 7-0 by him in the final here in 1999."
Manley also suggested the gamesmanship was not all down to him and added: "I heard something when I was going for a double four, which may or may not have been from Adrian.
"It was a tense match, it was all in the heat of the moment and a bit of experience came through in the end. If I've done wrong I've done wrong and the governing body can put me in line.
"I've no problem with Adrian, he's a lovely lad and hopefully we can go and have a beer together now."
Lewis, who missed out on a possible final against his mentor Taylor, accused Manley of swearing before he was about to throw.
"I knew Peter would use tactics," said the world number 20. "He turned round and said I was tutting when I wasn't, and was saying things when I was throwing. I didn't actually hear what it was but it was swearing.
"Phil (Taylor) told me to walk off if anything like that happened. But Peter beat me fair and square, I learned a lot and I'll be back."
The first quarter-final was a much more serene affair between the two remaining qualifiers, and Wayne Jones strolled through 5-0 as Gary Welding failed completely to reproduce the form that earned him victory over top seed Colin Lloyd in the first round.
A badly out-of-sorts Welding won only two legs and Jones is now guaranteed £20,000, the biggest pay-day of his career, from his semi-final clash with Manley.
If any aggravation had been expected today it was more likely to have been
between Taylor and Kevin Painter, who had to be separated by security guards after their quarter-final last year when 'The Power' was accused by his opponent of a lack of respect.
But this time their clash ended in smiles and hugs as Painter was completely outplayed by the 12-times champion, who went through on a 5-1 scoreline to set up a semi-final against Wayne Mardle.
Mardle missed double 18 for a perfect nine-dart leg on the way to a 5-0 demolition of Alan Warriner-Little in which he maintained the superb form he had produced against John Part last night.
