Luke Humphries on out-of-character 'chicken' celebration during World Matchplay victory
Luke Humphries secured his place in the semi-finals of the World Matchplay with victory over Dimitri Van den Bergh in Blackpool with the clashing showing a hint of needle on Thursday
Luke Humphries has revealed opponent Dimitri Van den Bergh sparked his uncharacteristic celebration during their World Matchplay clash.
The pair faced off in Blackpool's Winter Gardens on Thursday evening with top seed and world champion Humphries averaging 101.21 to record a 16-10 victory. Cool Hand Luke will next take on a resurgent James Wade in the final four of the competition.
Humphries strayed away from his composed nature during the match-up however. The 29-year-old couldn't resist firing back at his opponent in celebration during the 23rd leg of the night.
With the score 11-10 in Humphries favour, Van den Bergh popped his shoulders up and down in celebration after hitting back-to-back 180s. Humphries completed a 106-checkout with his next darts to respond in kind with an exaggerated movement and a stern face.
Needle was added to the affair with the commentary suggesting Humphries was 'giving it the full Dimitri chicken'. The former roofer admitted he'd taken offence of his opponent's celebration in the leg.
“I felt when Dimitri hit the second 180 and he did the shoulder roll, I thought that's such an unnatural reaction,” he told SportsBoom.com. “Usually, he'd give it a ‘come on’ and the sort of was giving it a bit of swag and I thought, well if this goes in, I'm giving it back.”
From that moment, Humphries rattled through the remaining legs to victory. The semi-finalist believes it was a pivotal moment in the match.
“As soon as he did it, I thought you’re going to get it back and I was pretty revved up after that," he said. "It could have been a big mistake for him to do that because he went pretty flat, and I just went on to rip up the last five legs. Maybe that was his mistake in the game.”
Humphries added: "To be honest, I'm not shy to celebrate. I’m just not one of them players who you see celebrate a lot. But I’m not shy to it, I just don’t like to give too much away."
The PDC World Cup of Darts champions will next take on 2007 World Matchplay winner Wade. It is the first time in nine years that 'The Machine' has made the penultimate round.
The 41-year-old defeat Ross Smith 16-10 as he averaged over 100 and hit 13 180s. Wade believes he can still produce more.
"I feel really good after that," he said. "I enjoyed the game, it was a great game and I'm just glad that I played a little bit better than Ross on the night.
"He played really well at the start; I felt like I dragged him into a scrap and then I took charge. My scoring was good but I've been playing a lot better in practice so it's not something I'm surprised by.
"I thought I could've played better at times and I know I can play a lot better than that."
Friday sees the remaining quarter final matches take place with three-time champions Michael van Gerwen facing Andrew Gilding, and Rob Cross fighting for a place against Michael Smith.
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