'I wanted to smash my fist into the middle of his face' - Colin Lloyd looks back on 'dirty' trick by Peter Manley

In his darts career, Peter Manley was known not only for his darts skills but especially for his psychological games. The man who once chased Adrian Lewis off the stage with a vicious remark, knew better than anyone how to take his opponents out of their concentration - something Colin Lloyd had to deal with painfully in 2002.

In the World Championship semifinals that year, Lloyd faced fourth-seeded Manley. The match was evenly matched: four sets to four, and Lloyd was putting up a solid fight against his favored opponent.

But then Manley's famous "mind games" came around the corner. "I've always been one to use the stem and a loose flight," Lloyd told the talkBULL podcast recently. "When you're playing on a hot stage, the stem would open up a little bit. Of course, my flight kept popping out. I had a flight on the floor, I picked it up and put it in."

Manley saw his opportunity and approached referee Russ Bray, supposedly concerned about the constant picking up of flights. What followed was a comment from Bray toward Lloyd that heated up tempers considerably.

"Russ Bray comes down and goes, 'Lloydy, can I just say, can you just watch your flights'" said Lloyd. "I said, 'What do you mean, watch my flights?' He goes, 'Well, you've been walking up to the board and it's putting Peter off because you have to keep picking up your flights.."

"I said, 'Well, Russ, I can't help if my flights keep coming out. I turned and looked at Peter, I just wanted to go up there, smash my fist into the middle of his face and push him off the stage. He got me. He knew he got me.

Afterwards, Lloyd made his frustration clear to Manley: "I said to him afterwards, 'If that's what you have to resort to to beat me, that's pretty sad, actually'. Bearing in mind I'd only been on the scene for three years. There started a respectful but love-hate relationship with myself and Peter over the years."

Manley's move proved effective: he won the next two sets and qualified for the final 6-4. There, however, a crushing defeat awaited him against Phil Taylor, who swept Manley off the board 7-0 and took his tenth world title.