ALLEN SENDS IDOL HENDRY CRASHING
08/12/2007 20:46:00

Mark Allen managed to put aside his admiration for Stephen Hendry as he knocked the snooker legend out of the Maplin UK Championship.
Young Ulsterman Allen converted a 6-2 first session lead into a 9-4 success to reach the last 16 in Telford, where he will play Mark Williams or Ricky Walden.

Allen made a significant break-through at the recent Northern Ireland Trophy, reaching his first ranking event semi-final, and continued his progress with a win which he described as the best of his career.

Hendry won five UK titles in his prime, but the 38-year-old has not won a ranking title for almost three years. In the second half of the season, he faces a battle to retain his place among the top eight.

The Scot won the first frame tonight to cut his deficit to 6-3, but any hopes of a fight back were scuppered as Allen won the next two with a top break of 76. Hendry pulled one back, but Allen soon sealed his fate with a
77 in frame 13.

"I have to consider this the biggest win of my career, because of who I was playing," said 21-year-old Allen. "Stephen was the one I lived up to when I started playing snooker. After the match, someone said to me 'you've just beaten my idol' I said I'd just beaten my own idol too!

"I still feel a bit star-struck when I see him. I was in the practice room before the match and he was on the next table, and it felt surreal. The first time I played him, at the Northern Ireland Trophy a couple of years ago, I spent the whole time watching him and he beat me easily.

"This time I decided the way to deal with that was not to look at him at all. When he was at the table I just stared at something else and listened to the balls.

"I've been playing well since the Crucible last season, beating Ken Doherty there showed me that I can beat the top players over a long distance. I'm feeling very confident and I think there's more to come, I haven't played my best snooker yet.

"Mark played very well, he's improved a lot since I last played him. He takes on a few rash shots but I'm hardly one to talk about that."