Luke Littler sparked controversy at the UK Open on Sunday but Colin Lloyd says the youngster is 'in control of his emotions'.
Littler was beaten 10-8 by Damon Heta in the quarter-final and made his opponent wait to shake his hand after he threw the winning dart.
The 17-year-old was aiming to win his first televised event in the UK in Minehead but suffered defeat at the hands of Heta.
The Australian put on a stunning display in a match of high quality, dubbed 'one of the best games I've ever seen' by former BDO world champion Mark Webster.
Former darts star Colin Lloyd says Luke Littler has got his emotions in check
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Fans were not happy as Littler appeared to turn his back on Heta at the end of the match and take a sip of water.
One supporter wrote on X: "Luke Littler is such a bad loser". Another fan wrote: "What a game from both but Littler needs to sort his attitude out when he loses."
Heta didn't seem bothered by the incident and the pair shook hands before leaving the stage.
It came just a couple of weeks after Littler appeared to blank Michael van Gerwen in the Premier League.
He was also visibly angry when he lost in the quarter-final of night three in the Premier League in Glasgow.
But 2002 World Championship semi-finalist Lloyd says Littler has got his emotions in check.
Speaking on the Love the Darts podcast, Lloyd said: "The nice thing about Luke Littler, he may only be 17 years old, he's so in control of his emotions.
"I don't think he's putting the pressure on himself to say 'I've got to do this, I've got to do that'.
"He turns up, he puts in fantastic performances, and if those performances are good enough, he gets results.
"It was interesting to see that after all the damage that he's done, he's now using a new set of darts, a different set of darts.
"It's not doing him any harm, he's still pulling out shots from everywhere."
Littler is currently second in the Premier League table, six points behind leader Van Gerwen.
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Luke Littler has taken the darts world by storm in recent months
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He is yet to claim a nightly win and has only reached one final to date in Berlin on night two.
But Littler has won all but one of his quarter-finals so far to ensure he is regularly racking up the points.
Lloyd believes that consistency will see him reach the play-off round at London's O2 Arena in May.
He added: "Yes of course it would be nice for him to win just one night, he'd love to win just one night.
Luke Littler has not always had it his own way in the Premier League so far
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"But I think where he's so consistent, I don't think he has to because I think he will still be there and thereabouts because of the consistency he's shown, or showing I should say, through this Premier League.
"If he keeps that consistency going, he'll be there [on] finals night."
