Mark Allen suffered a shock defeat on the opening day of the Players Championship.
The world No.3 has been the standout performer this season having pocketed the Northern Ireland Open, UK Championship and World Grand Prix. But the Pistol failed to fire as he was dumped out 6-3 by Joe O’Connor at the elite 16-man event in Wolverhampton.
“It was another poor performance if I’m honest,” admitted Allen, the runaway leader on the one-year ranking list.
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“My safety was really poor throughout the whole game. I just left Joe chance after chance, I just wasn’t good enough.
“My safety was nowhere near good enough, it really showed up in that match.
“I had my chances, even when I did get in I didn’t make the most of some of the chances I had.
“Joe was mopping up what I was leaving really. I think I lost three frames where on another day I probably win all three and that turns the match around.
“Joe was by far the better player. I didn’t deserve to win.”
The UK champion suffered from a slow start as the Leicester potter went 3-0 up with breaks of 64 and 63.
Antirm’s Allen flirted with a comeback with 91 and 85 runs.
But world No.37 O’Connor, a finalist at the Scottish Open earlier this season, stood up to the challenge and completed the job with further 132 and 66 visits to book his spot in the quarter-finals.
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