Jonny Clayton has jokingly unveiled a cunning masterplan to lock Luke Littler in the toilets ahead of their Quarter-Final clash at the World Series of Darts Finals.
Clayton saw off Motomu Sakai 10-8 in a closely run affair, a match he described as almost like stepping into the unknown. While a character on the oche, Sakai isn't particularly well known and so for Clayton, it was a match he wasn't hugely prepared for. But as the big name it is one he is expected to win and he did so.
"Yeah, obviously I'm through to the quarters. Yeah, that was tough. Both of us missed loads and loads of doubles, so I can't say that I was in charge of the game, because I wasn't," said Clayton to Online Darts. "To be fair, he was giving me chances I was not taking, but that 126 made it all right to go 8-7 up. So, yeah, different. I've not played him before, so that's a lesson learnt."
Sakai has received a lot of love on social media for his dancing and has become a bit of a cult hero. But does Clayton have to remove himself from that headspace? He joked that he could do the dancing. "No, not really. To be fair, that's his thing, isn't it? Every player's got different things and, to be fair to him, that's his thing. I like his dance, to be fair. I was thinking I could do that, but no. All jokes aside, fair play, brilliant. Nice guy, good player."
For Clayton, it was a new test today and he said that he was glad to get past the 'world of unknown' which he said makes it a completely trickier test than perhaps it would be on paper. "Yeah, I think that's without disrespect. At the end of the day, you know what you play against on tour, because you play so much against each other. So, today was the World of Unknown. I knew we could play that, I knew that obviously, but I've never played against him before. So, yeah, that's a tick in the box. We played against each other. Next time, my God, I'd better hit my doubles better."
At the time, he was set to face Luke Littler or Nathan Aspinall and quipped that he might lock him in the toilet. But gave props to both in case it was 'The Asp' that got through. It was in fact The Nuke winning in a last leg. "I don't know, I might lock him in the toilet or something on the way down. Generally, all jokes aside, I've done it before on the Premier League stage, so I'm going to go out full of confidence and enjoy it. Tomorrow's going to be a tough game, whoever I play, because Nathan is on fire at the moment as well," he joked. "Pity they weren't in the other half, so I'd have been okay then. Never mind, never mind. We'll try our best."
Being asked about the fear factor and the aura that surrounds him, he said that Luke Humphries also shouldn't be forgotten in this debate. "Yeah, I can only speak as I think. I think he's a fantastic player. I think the world of darts, it's massive with him in. But this old todger, we're going to try and beat him again. But we're all there. At the end of the day, it was Phil, it was Michael, now it's Littler. To be fair, we can't forget Luke Humphries, because that guy is fantastic as well. So, all jokes aside, they're setting standards, we have to chase. If we want to be a world champion, if we want to win a tournament, we have to beat them and that's it."
