Gerwyn Price teased darts rival James Wade by joking that he crashed out of Players Championship 9 just to avoid him. Wade would no doubt tell a different story about his 6-3 defeat to Brendan Dolan in the last 16 on Monday, and his feelings towards a match-up with Price later in the competition.

But Price still pounced on an opportunity to poke fun at his good pal Wade, who would eventually have run into 'The Iceman' if he kept on going in Leicester. Price continued his good form by winning the event, whitewashing Dolan in the semi-final before soundly beating Ian White in the final.

Afterwards, he said: "Even though I didn't feel good this morning, I sat on the table with James Wade and said, 'I'm winning today'. He said, 'No I'm in your half [of the draw].' Every game went on and on and he lost to Brendan Dolan. I said, 'James, you were scared of me today, that's why you lost.'"

Price will be thankful that Wade - a fellow fiery character - can take the trash talk just as well as he dishes it out. And 'The Machine' will surely be plotting to get one over on the Welshman next time he has the chance.

Price winning Players Championship 9 was made even more impressive by the fact he was still nursing the injury which made life difficult in the Premier League last week, when he lost to Rob Cross in the quarter-finals.

"I was a little bit p***ed off in the Premier League last week," he said. "I was struggling with a little bit of an injury so I sorted that out. I didn't feel too good at the beginning of today, I was a little inconsistent - one minute I'm playing well, the next minute no confidence at all. But I battled on.

"In the past I'd probably throw those games away but I stuck in there until the end and I won. It gives me a good boost of confidence for tomorrow and the Premier League next week."

Price seemingly used all his good darts up on Monday, as he fell at the first hurdle when Players Championship 10 action kicked off on Tuesday. The 40-year-old was beaten 6-4 by Dylan Slevin in his opening match, forcing his attention back to the Premier League, which travels to the Uber Arena in Berlin later this week.

After two nightly wins, Price is fourth in the table and clinging onto the play-off spots, with Rob Cross and Nathan Aspinall not far behind.