Colin Lloyd told skysports.com why he punched the dartboard during his first-round match.
Lloyd tells us about frustration and his world title dreams
It was one of the most memorable images of the World Darts Championship so far.
On the second night of the tournament, the Alexandra Palace crowd gasped as an irritated Colin Lloyd punched the dartboard in frustration, leaving his knuckles bruised, as he struggled to overcome his first-round opponent Andree Welge.
The world number nine had cruised into a 2-0 lead in sets, only to be pegged back by his unseeded opponent, who missed three darts for the match.
Lloyd, a former world number one, took out his frustration on the dartboard before regaining his composure and battling back to win the match and set up a second-round clash against Mark Hylton.
Having been knocked out in the first round of the World Championship in three of the last five years, it was clearly a difficult night for him and he later spoke to
skysports.com to explain his actions.
While he admits punching the board was not appropriate - and he expects to be fined for doing so - he said he hopes the supporters will understand his frustration.
He said: "I'm disappointed in myself, but at the end of the day the PDC and Sky want you to show your emotions. I was showing my true emotions up there.
"I showed my emotions badly, but frustration kicks in sometimes. I was 2-0 up in sets, then all of a sudden I lost 3-0 and 3-0 and I thought: 'I cannot believe I'm going to let this game go'.
"It's happened to me so many times in this tournament. The amount of times I've let people off and I thought to myself 'not again'. Then I threw that dart and, before I knew it, I'd gone 'bang' and hit the board. The whole place shook and the crowd started booing me.
"I'd like to think that when it comes to sport you want to see people showing their emotions. I've seen snooker players really bang the table before and just hit the balls around and you've seen boxers throw punches after the bell.
"It happens. I apologise to Andree, but it's about that psychological edge and I gave myself the psychological edge. I did it in the wrong way, but I got a result.
"I came through and won it."
Misdemeanour
Lloyd, known to his supporters as Jaws, says the opinion of darts fans is important and hopes they will forgive his Alexandra Palace mistake.
However, as a PDC professional of 12 years, he says he is experienced enough to cope with any criticism that might come his way.
He added: "It does matter to me because the people out there have paid good money to come and watch professional darts.
"I was a little bit unprofessional, but hopefully they'll let me off that one little misdemeanour.
"I'm a good guy, I give a lot away to charity and this and that, but if they don't let me off then so be it. They've all got their favourites and people they want to hate, so if they want to hate me I'll still stand there with a smile and I'll try to play darts."
Dream
Lloyd is a former World Match Play and World Grand Prix champion, but the biggest title of all still eludes him.
His best result was a semi-final place in the 2002 tournament, but despite his indifferent form at Alexandra Palace, he says he has his eyes on the trophy this year.
Having battled through the first round, Lloyd insists he will accept nothing less than a win on the biggest stage in darts.
"I'm in the next round and I'm going to turn up and play for every darts player's dream, which is to become the world champion.
"I'm here to win it. I'm not here to take part, I'm here to win. I've done damage before, I've won two majors and lost in six major finals.
"If you want to come here and just think you can limp your way through, it ain't going to happen. When you turn up at a PDC tournament, you've got to be on your game or you're going to get punished. Look at Co Stompe, he got beat in the first round and he's been playing absolutely fantastic.
"You've got to come here with a professional attitude and say 'I want to win, I want to win'.
"By hook or by crook, I'm going to go out there and try my best."
No regrets
However, he admits that even if he never realises dream of becoming a world champion, he can be content with his darts career.
He said: "If my career was to end tomorrow - I hope not - but if I was to wake up tomorrow morning and all of a sudden I couldn't throw a dart, there'd be no regrets.
"There'd be no regrets about the crowd, my opponents or anyone. This is my 12th year on the circuit and I've had a nice time. I've achieved a lot, I've won lot of Open tournaments, a couple of majors and I've been the world number one. I've also met a lot of nice people.
"I don't regret anything I've done and I wouldn't change anything I've done. But I'm not finished.
"There's plenty of life in Jaws yet!"
