Mark Allen quits match with 11 reds left on ‘Pity’ World Grand Prix table

Mark Allen faces a fine from World Snooker after conceding a match-winning frame with 11 reds still left on the table at the World Grand Prix.

The Northern Irishman immediately conceded the frame, and with it the match, to gift Carter a place in the quarter-finals, where he will play David Gilbert.

The former Masters champion was 3-1 down to Ali Carter and trailing 20 points to two in the fifth frame when he missed a straightforward yellow and screwed the white ball back into the middle pocket.

Asked if he regretted his actions, Allen said: “Not at all. I don’t regret much that I’ve done over the years.”

Describing the condition of the match table as “disgusting”, Allen added: “It’s out of character but it’s just the way I felt today. What’s the point of the audience watching me miss more and more?

“I felt like I had to hit the ball so hard to move the white. It was really heavy and then you get annoyed because you look over at table two and it looks to be playing beautifully. I think if I had played on I would have smashed my cue up.”

Allen, who is sixth in the world rankings, later took to Twitter to apologise for his performance: “Bad day at the office. Sorry to anyone who had to watch that..”

Carter told :“We both started missing a lot and I think Mark missed the yellow there and he just saw red. We’ve all done it and fortunately for me it gives me the match, but I didn’t want to win like that.