Darts: Lewis blames Manley dirty tricks for defeat after staging walkout

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 the stage accusing his opponent of gamesmanship.

It was no surprise that arguments were involved in a match featuring Manley, who refused to shake Taylor's hand after his defeat in the 2002 final of this event claiming he urgently needed to use the toilet, and on Thursday kept Dennis Smith waiting on stage while he changed his shirt.

The lucky pink flamingo shirt reappeared yesterday and it worked for the No 5 seed again as he won the first six legs to open a 2-0 lead, unsettling Lewis with the amount of time he was taking to retrieve his darts from the board.

Lewis was expressing frustration but he got off the mark before a brilliant 160 check-out 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, the 20-year-old was toeing the oche again when he suddenly stood back and walked off the stage, appearing to claim that Manley had spoken when he was about to throw.

After a short conversation with the 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 lead.

The Stoke youngster kept his hopes alive by winning set seven but Manley would not be denied. "One Dart" lived up to his nickname with a 106 out-shot, the players exchanging 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.

"There were a few little incidents and maybe Adrian wanted to blame someone else because he didn't play as well as he had." Manley also suggested the gamesmanship was not all down to him. "I heard something when I was going for a double four. I've no problem with Adrian, he's a lovely lad." Lewis accused Manley of swearing before he was about to throw.

"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'll be back."

The first quarter-final was a calm affair between two qualifiers and Wayne Jones strolled through 5-0 against Gary Welding.