Home favourite Mark Allen has suffered a surprise defeat in the second round of the Dafabet Northern Ireland Open after losing 4-3 to Tian Pengfei on Wednesday. The world number seven has enjoyed an impressive season to date, with his best performance coming at the recent International Championship where he reached the final before losing to Mark Selby.
However, the 31-year-old was unable to replicate that form in Belfast as he was narrowly beaten by China’s Tian despite holding a 3-2 advantage at one stage. Allen was not too downbeat after the match as he believes his overall form is good and he is looking at the defeat as a blip. “I’ve been playing well for the last two months,” Allen was quoted as saying on the World Snooker website. I’ll just try and block out these performances as I feel my game is in good shape.”
The three-time ranking event winner has never made it beyond the quarter-finals of his home event and admits it is his long-term goal to one day claim overall glory at Waterfront Hall. He added: “Hopefully some day I can lift the trophy for the people of Northern Ireland. “I’m not going to get too far ahead of myself. Just because I am the home favourite it doesn’t mean those fairy tales are going to come true. Hopefully in years to come I will be able to handle it better.” Allen will now turn his attention to next week’s UK Championship, a tournament he has never won. He is priced at 33/1 to secure the title this year.
Dafabet Northern Ireland Open odds available at Dafabet.