HUMPHRIES REVEALS REYES APOLOGY AFTER ENGLAND SURVIVE SPAIN SCARE

LUKE HUMPHRIES revealed Cristo Reyes apologised after a moment which briefly disrupted his rhythm during England’s World Cup victory over Spain.

Cool Hand and Luke Littler secured their place in the quarter-finals with an 8-5 win to set up a blockbuster clash with Wales on Sunday afternoon.

World No2 Humphries and teen sensation Littler made the perfect start, racing into a 3-0 lead before Reyes and Jose Justicia responded impressively to level the contest at 3-3.

The match remained finely balanced until the Lethal Lukes moved through the gears after the break.

Humphries pinned a crucial 88 checkout as England won three of the next four legs to establish a 7-4 advantage.

Spain refused to give in and were handed a lifeline when England missed five match darts.

But Littler made sure there would be no dramatic comeback, taking out 89 to seal victory and send England into the last eight.

Despite the defeat, Reyes and Justicia produced an excellent display and averaged 96.13.

After the match, Humphries opened up on an incident in leg five involving Reyes which briefly affected his concentration.

He said: “When he walked past he was speaking and shouting and it affected my rhythm a little bit.

“He did say sorry afterwards. The emotions in World Cup darts, it takes a toll on people.

“For me it was just one throw.”

Humphries admitted he was relieved to come through a difficult opening assignment after being dumped out at the same stage 12 months ago.

He added: “We knew it was going to be tough with the way teams are averaging nowadays.

“It is hard because you have so much weight on your shoulders. You are trying so hard and when you try hard in darts, it gets a lot tougher.

“Every leg gets harder but I am proud of the way we fought back and we didn’t let the emotions get to us.

“It wasn’t the worst performance in the world. It wasn’t the best.

“Like I said to Luke, just get through that first game and then tomorrow it feels like we can relax a bit and play like how we know we can.”

Littler added: “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Going 3-0 up, it got back to 3-3 and I was just thinking in my head, go into the break with the lead.

“We know we can win on this stage so tomorrow afternoon we can just throw our darts and do what we do.”