Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Abusive fan won it for me
COMEBACK king Mark Allen revealed a rowdy fan fired him up to keep his Players Championship title hopes alive.
The Ulsterman won six of the last seven frames to recover from 3-0 down to beat former world champion Stuart Bingham 6-4 at Preston’s Guild Hall.
Victory leaves Allen just two wins away from pocketing the £150,000 top prize and securing a third ranking title this season.
Allen said: “There was a guy in the crowd who p*ssed me off. He kept saying things and clapping when I missed.
“He sort of fired me up and I wanted to win to shove it up him.
“I felt much better at 3-1 than at 3-0. I didn’t have many chances and I wasn’t hitting the ball well.
“All of a sudden I was back in the game after the century and it’s easy to get up for matches like that.
“I’m delighted to be through, Stuart is a tough player.”
Antrim ace Allen was helpless to stop
Bingham going into a commanding 3-0 lead with 71 and 76 breaks.
But the Pistol fired in a run of 72 to get himself on the board.
And he started to flow as 108 and 54 visits saw him lead 4-3.
Allen should have made it 5-3 after a 51 break, but a careless mistake let the 2015 Crucible king pull a frame back.
But Allen bounced back in the next to get over the line with a 75 break.
Allen will lock horns in the semi-final against either defending champion Ronnie O’sullivan or four-time world champion John Higgins, who face off today, tomorrow night.
Earlier in the day Neil Robertson downed world champion Mark Williams 6-4.