Littler faces Humphries in the quarter-finals and “can’t wait” to get back at the Oche once again. “Yeah, happy with the way I played,” he told ITV. “Happy with my scoring and my finishing so just happy to win my first game.

“To be fair, in practice nothing was going and I’ve always said that whenever I get on stage I always just feel like I throw well on a stage so I was happy that I can bring the bad practice into good form.

“I’m just happy to win tonight and not go home tomorrow on an early flight. Don’t know who I play tomorrow but I just can’t wait to play again.”

There was no nine-darter this time, after the historic feat during Littler’s opening match in Bahrain last time out, but he has no grand expectations about this tournament. “It would be a massive bonus to win again, but if I do lose, then it’s back home and focus on Cardiff for the Premier League,” Littler said on Thursday.