The Nuke was making his way to the stage for his quarter final against Stephen Bunting and, as is customary for the 18-year-old, he paused to acknowledge the support of his family.
As he attempted to hug his mum, Lisa, Littler received a shove from a fan who was desperately hoping to receive a handshake from the reigning world champions.
Littler backed off and gave the man a stare before he continued on his way to the oche from where he gestured to his family with a thumbs-up signal before mouthing ‘No’ at his entourage.
Security staff were then seen escorting a man, who had been seated close to where Littler’s family were located, from the arena.
It was a night of mixed emotions for Littler who eventually lost the final to Luke Humphries 6-4.
Littler – who won in Glasgow, but then suffered an early exit in Dublin – had broken to open up a 3-1 lead before Humphries responded and then levelling the match at 3-3.
Humphries then took a scrappy eighth leg on double 12 before landing tops to break at 5-4 with the darts for the match.
After building on five perfect darts and with Littler’s scoring levels dropped, Humphries took out 92 to secure a first Premier League win over the world champion at the seventh attempt.
‘It felt like hard work, but felt good,’ Humphries said on Sky Sports. ‘I felt like my game was in a good way after I struggled.
‘My finishing was good in moments and it wasn’t so good in moments.
‘Luke played fantastic tonight, (but) he didn’t play that great in the final and I managed to put my foot in the gas right at the end of the legs.
‘It’s the first time I’ve beaten him in the Premier League. It gets harder every time you lose.’
Humphries, who also won the opening night in Belfast, sits top of the table on 15 points, seven clear of Littler.
‘It’s a great start. I would love to win the group, it’s a dream start and I need to keep pushing,’ Humphries said.
In his semi-final, Humphries dug deep to find two stunning finishes of 167 followed by 116 in the deciding leg as he saw off Rob Cross, who had battled back from 3-1 down to lead 5-4.
Littler had beaten Humphries to win on night two in Glasgow, but then failed to follow that up as he went out in the quarter-final stage in Dublin
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