Allen relives UK thriller that had him off his sofa

JUDD Trump and Neil Robertson’s gruelling UK Championship epic was enough to get even Mark Allen watching a rare piece of snooker.

The reigning Champion of Champions beat Joe O’connor 4-2 in a more subdued second round of the Scottish Open but hardly watches the sport away from the baize.

Trump and Robertson played out a dramatic late night thriller on Sunday as World No.2 Robertson toppled Trump, already a two-time ranking event winner this season, on the final pink.

It takes a real classic to catch Allen with snooker on the box — but he revelled in watching his fellow heavyweights slug it out under the Marshall Arena lights.

The 34-year-old said: “I don’t watch a lot of snooker — but I did turn it on at 9-9 to see what happened. And it had everything. Great shots, missed pots, drama. I don’t think anyone expected what happened at the very end, and you could see, both were just relieved it was over.

“It made for great TV, two of the very top players the game’s ever seen missing balls under pressure. It shows that we’re all human.”

Robertson, now a three-time UK champion, pulled out of the Scottish Open after his Sunday night heroics but Trump is battling on and is in the third round hat. The World No.1 remains on course to win all four of the season’s Home Nations events after claiming both the English and Northern Ireland Opens this year.

A million-pound bonus was in place for any player who achieved the feat, but Matchroom Sport supremo Barry Hearn scrapped the jackpot at the beginning of the season.

Allen slammed Hearn’s decision to remove a major incentive away from the game’s top players — but hailed Trump’s professionalism for playing on no matter what.

“I’m a little surprised that Judd didn’t (pull out), especially when Barry took the million-pound bonus away,” added Allen.

“That was a big carrot dangled for a lot of the top players. Judd’s put himself in a great position to do it this year, so it’s a bit of a shame Barry took that away.

“It shows how good a No.1 we’ve got in our sport when he’s just lost a final like that, in the manner that he did late at night, and he’s still here the very next day to compete in the Scottish Open.”

Antrim’s Jordan Brown was also in second round action but went down 4-2 against Chinese sensation Zhou Yuelong.