Charlie Manby and James Hurrell involved in heated exchange after UK Open clash

Charlie Manby and James Hurrell were involved in an exchange of words at the end of their UK Open round-three meeting on Friday night.

After wrapping up a 6-4 win with a checkout of 16, where he averaged 99 throughout, the victorious Manby shook hands with Hurrell before the pair became involved in a heated exchange.

The match referee then came over to split the duo up before Manby celebrated in front of the Minehead crowd.

Speaking to ITV afterwards, Manby said: “I just don’t think he was happy with me giving it the big one. I am mates with Jammo, I sit with him (in) pro tours and sat on his table for the first pro tours and I got on really well with him.

“I just don’t think he liked me giving it the big one when there’s a lot riding on it. He was giving it back so I think that was it really.

“There’s no friends on the oche, yeah you can sit with whoever you want and blah, blah but I think there’s no friends on the oche at all. If I want to give it the big one, I’ll give it the big one there’s no restrictions to that, especially here.

“You’ve got loads of people out there giving it the big one as well, my fans, his fans, it was just as good as each other so I don’t see any problem with it.”

Manby was later knocked out of the competition in round four by Ryan Joyce, who claimed a 10-6 victory.

Friday’s action saw Luke Littler and Luke Humphries both progress into round five, with Littler getting the better of Damon Heta 10-3 and Humphries won by the same score against Luke Woodhouse.

Nathan Aspinall exited in a hard-fought contest with Michael van Gerwen, while Gian van Veen, Joe Cullen and Chris Dobey tasted defeat and Danny Noppert hit a nine-darter during his win over Dimitri van den Bergh.