Darts boo boys who targeted Luke Littler and Humphries condemned as German has message for his own people
Aussie ace Damon Heta outlines situation as Martin Schindler wants no heckling
Savaged Luke Humphries and Luke Littler faced brutal conditions as humble German hero Martin Schinder hit out at home booing of the rattled England pair.
The red-hot tournament favourites were sent spinning out of the Darts World Cup by the hosts amid partisan scenes in Frankfurt.
Humphries and Littler were hounded by the home crowds throughout the contest and Schindler and partner Ricardo Pietreczko piled on the agonies with a brilliant showing to send the English pair, who both got an MBE on the eve of the game, out in convincing fashion.
Schindler loved the support, but didn't agree with the heckling as he said: 'Obviously we have to say that we don't approve of the whistling and booing. We have to say it's not getting easier for us because our opponents are getting booed or whistled, we still need to go out there and perform.'
Germany now face Australia and Down Under star Damon Heta reckons Littler and Humphries faced a nightmare scenario which he hopes he and partner Simon Whitlock can turn around when they face Shindler and Pietreczko on Sunday afternoon.
He said: 'They [England] probably relied on each other thinking: Ah, he'll do the business, ah, he'll do the business. But the conditions weren't great. The crowd was awful. In Germany, it was probably brutal out there for them. They would take it as another learning curve and probably get stronger, unfortunately, for the rest of us.
'Fair play to Germany. They had to still play the good darts, but at the end of the day, we're just worried about us and what we've got to do. It's blocking it out, but at the same time, I think it's trying to use it in your own advantage going: Alright, let's keep them quiet. Let's shut this up. Let's get on top of it. Then that way, when it's quiet and they're getting behind, that's when they start feeling the pinch going: Oh, they're not performing. 'You get tangled up in a hard-out game where it's probably going to the wire. That's when it starts getting a bit nervy, a bit twitchy. They want to perform in their own country, so the pressure's probably more on them to wanting to get something over the line. I'm not sure if Germany's won the World Cup before. No?'
Whitlock agrees and added: 'I think the crowd could play a big part again, but anyway, we're pretty seasoned, so just get on with the job. Those guys had two wins under their belt, which I think is a big advantage, playing England. They never played together before and you can sort of tell that it played a big factor, plus with the crowd. We've just played a lot of darts, and I think we'll be fine. If we get on top early and quieten the crowd down a bit, it might be different. Germany got a good start [against England] and they just went with it, so we've got to shut that down a bit.'
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