‘I have to grow up’ – Darts star responds to Wayne Mardle criticism at Ally Pally

Ricky Evans concedes he needs to ‘grow up’ following criticism of his ‘unprofessional’ behaviour at the World Darts Championship.

Despite a strong start to his third round encounter against tournament debutant Charlie Manby, Evans fell apart in the match.

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It became hard to watch as Evans lost his head, with Sky Sports commentator Wayne Mardle claiming the man dubbed ‘Rapid’ simply ‘gave up.’

There was also a moment when Evans appeared to draw the ire of match referee Huw Ware when, trailing by over 300 in the final leg, his dart fell out of the board.

Evans jokingly ran up to the board and shouted, ‘It’s in,’ but Ware was left unimpressed as Manby went on to pin double 16 to win the match 4-2.

Mardle labelled the antic from Evans ‘unprofessional’ and added: “Ricky will not sleep. He will not like how he reacted to that.”

In the aftermath of his exit, Evans revealed in a social media post he’d received ‘death threats, hate and fat jokes’ from online trolls, although he reminded his detractors he banked a tidy £35,000 for his troubles at the Ally Pally.

However, the world No.40 has since acknowledged via an interview with The Sun the way he acted against Manby wasn’t his finest hour.

“I’ve got one of those personalities where it just looks like I’m not trying in a way,” Evans said.

“But when they’re going, like I said, at the Grand Slam and I won the game. So it does work.

“I just have to grow up. Just learn how to lose with dignity.

“But that’s life. Hopefully we can get that sorted this year and we can get the happy Ricky and smiley again.

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“I did get a bit of online hate and probably so in a way.”

Evans’ focus now shifts towards the World Masters, which begins on January 29.

However, the 35-year-old is no guarantee to feature at the tournament as he must make his way through the gruelling qualifying rounds.

The top 24 players in the PDC’s world rankings automatically go into the main draw where they will be joined by eight players who progress from the preliminary stages.

Players who enter the preliminary rounds must win three games to reach the main draw, where they will be guaranteed £5,000.

The preliminary rounds will be held on January 28 before the action begins the next day in Milton Keynes.