Cameron Menzies eased past Jim Williams 6-2 but was beset by cheating allegations which he owned up to albeit this wasn't done on purpose he said as he began his Players Championship Finals campaign.
After breaking new ground at the Grand Slam of Darts, he did what others including Martin Lukeman couldn't do and that was continue his form. He spoke afterwards and said Williams had a word about rattling his darts.
"I don't know what the average is, I don't think it was great. But I felt better there than I did at the Grand Slam but I think the Grand Slam environment caught me out a little bit. I kind of got involved in the tournament more than the player than I am. It was a good start. Jim wasn't Jim," he said to Online Darts.
"He pulled me up for rattling my darts. I can't deny I was doing it but I never do it tactically. I do sometimes do that. So I apologise to Jim if I did put him off. I'm not tactical but I'm fidgety. Fallon's down with me so she has to deal with this scenario. It's good to get the win. The Grand Slam is maybe a stepping stone to where I want to be."
"Jim told me to hold my darts, he said I was putting my darts. The reason is years ago I had a set of darts and I broke one so one dart was remade for me and was slightly different from the rest so I always made that my first dart and I kind of kept that routine. It's never my intention. My intention is not to cheat, I'll play fair."
He also said that he felt like he didn't belong in the PDC before winning his title as well as his pet hate for people tagging him in videos of his emotion which he said is a huge part of his game but one that is mainly on adrenaline and not something he likes.
"I don't think I belonged in the PDC at that level on the floor. On the big stage, it sounds good but if you look how I got there, it's still kind of fortunate. I still feel like I've got a long way to go. If you asked me before the qualifiers that I'd get to the last eight, I'd have bitten your hand off twice. But it's a learning curve how I played on that stage, how I acted on that stage. I'm not proud of how I acted and it hurts when I see videos. That's just adrenaline and passion. I hate when folk tag me in stuff to watch it back. I don't watch it back because I don't like it. I'd like folk to feel how I do on that stage."