Super Mark!

What did I tell you?
Star of the day has to be debutant Mark Allen. Apart from silly mistakes with on-the-spot-blacks, he sailed ably to victory over Ken Doherty. At seven a piece it looked like Crucible nerves would get the better of our lad from Antrim. But he kept his focus and won the next three frames in style.

A happy Mark told Cuefactor closing the match on the 1997 World Champion was the most pressure he had ever felt.

He spent much of the afternoon on a well-fielded first-round lap of honour outside the Crucible, signing autographs and chatting to fans with girlfriend and ladies world number one, Reanne Evans.

With all his family and friends around, there was a jovial buzz in the air. One brave youngster tried his luck, telling him he wished Ken had won! Mark took the comments very well and even turned the banter into a funny crowd-pleasing episode. Definitely a contender for the Good Sportsmanship Award.

We caught up with ref Michaela who said she hadn’t expected him to play so well. She was astounded at his talent and thought his long pots were amazing.

Though it wasn’t all in vain for poor Ken. He managed to rack up a cool 135 during the morning’s play, the highest break of the tournament so far.

It seems Mark has not yet been given a snooker nickname. If you’ve any suggestions for him or other players, let us know.

Apart from that excitement, the Crucible played host to quite a lot of scrappy play – looks like Hendry’s bid for number eight has hit a bumpy start. He’ll have to improve massively if he is to come close this year.

Cuezone however, saw a lot of talent with the first two rounds of Junior Pot Black. John Higgins popped in for a butchers with John Parrot (himself a JPB winner) encouraging the youngsters. Talented lads Jack Lisowski and Mitchell Mann are through to the final which will be played tomorrow in the Crucible.

Michaela presided over proceedings, with new faces Patricia Murphy and 15-year-old Molly Newbold refereeing. Excellent to see two more female referees on the circuit. More about Molly soon.

Michaela described the standard as phenomenal. Not surprising with 15-year-old Jack Lisowski building a break of 85 – a feat some of the top 16 are struggling to achieve at the moment.

And finally, after a sensible low-down on the day’s events, here’s a cheeky parting puzzler….
Which snooker ace was apparently banned from a top Sheffield hotel last year for repeatedly opening the door naked to room service staff?

Wonder if the flashy player gave a tip….?  Carry on Potting

Back to Gabi's page