Luke Littler has revealed that Nathan Aspinall was targeted by a thrown pint of beer after making his way onto the stage for Thursday's Premier League Darts final. Aspinall endured a troublesome night with the Brighton crowd but battled through to move up to third in the table after week five.

The Asp started his night by cruising past point-less Stephen Bunting 6-2 before completing a stunning comeback to pip Rob Cross 6-5, having trailed 4-2 when Voltage hit a nine-darter. He fell short against Littler, who triumphed 6-3 to win his second night of the competition and move two points behind Luke Humphries at the summit. However, unsavoury scenes struck before their latest clash when a rowdy fan aimed a pint at Aspinall from the crowd.

The 33-year-old boasts one of the most popular walk-ons in darts, never failing to get fans in attendance going with The Killers' 'Mr Brightside'.

It was no different at the Brighton Centre, orchestrating an impassioned rendition three times on the south coast. But the third turned sour.

Sky Sports cameras showed a stern-looking Aspinall deep in conversation with referee Huw Ware after taking to the stage for the final against Littler.

And The Nuke has since claimed it was because the TV coverage missed a pint of beer being aimed at Aspinall from the masses below the oche.

In his post-match press conference, Littler explained: "I think there was a pint thrown at Nathan as soon as he came up on the stage. Crazy."

The 18-year-old had to correct a surprised reporter who thought the pint was launched as a result of Cross' perfect leg against Aspinall.

He went on to suggest he wasn't happy with the Brighton crowd's behaviour after the unwelcome chaos.

Littler added: "I think we all know some have been good, some have been a bit bad. But that is the darts fans for you: they are either good or they are either bad."

Aspinall was caught up in more trouble during his semi-final victory against Cross, pausing to give a fan a death stare.

It's currently unclear what the Stockport-born player was unhappy about in that instance, but it further fuelled the debate around crowd issues in this year's Premier League.

Just three weeks ago, the PDC issued a statement after relentless whistling heavily impacted Littler's match against Luke Humphries in Glasgow.

Premier League bosses have publicly vowed to identify "inappropiate" behaviour and remove offenders from arenas.