Snooker expert exclaims ‘goodness’ in ‘nightmare’ incident at Northern Ireland Open | Other | Sport

Eurosport pundit Neal Foulds was shocked by a ‘nightmare’ error from Oliver Lines at the Northern Ireland Open. The 29-year-old went into his match against Mark Allen as the clear underdog and took a while to get going in the opening frame.

Lines tried to get along the right rail but missed by some distance, giving Allen a chance to find his rhythm. On his return to the table, Lines came off the goal line with a red in the right corner, but did not cover himself in glory on his next shot.

The Leeds man was left with a tricky cut in the black and needed the rest to give himself a chance of finding the pocket. Ultimately, he potted the cue ball perfectly, but his cue slipped from his hand, causing Lines to hit the cue ball on its way back.

Lines flashed a wry smile as he walked back to his seat, his mistake putting Allen in the driver’s seat early on.

Foulds checked the match for Eurosport and said: “Oh, my god! That’s one of those nightmarish scenarios. You can’t get the equipment away fast enough. It’s something he laughs about.”

“It really made a huge difference. He would have been behind red, but he just couldn’t get the equipment away fast enough. Look at this. Oh, thank God, that’s an absolute nightmare scenario for anyone.”

Lines then recovered from his glaring mistake to win the opening frame, with Allen squandering two chances to close it out for himself. The latter will be hoping to regain the title in front of his home fans after winning the Northern Ireland Open in 2021 and 2022.

Earlier this week, Allen lashed out at the World Snooker Tour by accusing bosses of having their ‘favorite’ stars and suggesting he was being denied the level of coverage he deserved.

Reflecting on his brief spell at the top of the world rankings in the summer, Allen said: “It was a bit of an anticlimax. It wasn’t much fun, if I’m honest. I feel like I got some really bad reporting from the governing body .

“I didn’t get much attention here (in Northern Ireland), I didn’t even come to events and I wasn’t at the main table all the time. Ultimately, if you keep winning matches and winning tournaments, then it takes care of itself.

“It was a bit of a comedown actually. I just feel like World Snooker have their favorites and that’s it.”