MISFIRING Scot Anthony McGill admitted he “blew” his chance to beat Ronnie O’Sullivan on the big stage yesterday.

Glaswegian potter McGill let slip a 2-0 lead in a 6-4 defeat to O’Sullivan at the Coral UK Championship in York.

And there was misery for fellow Scot Graeme Dott as well as he threw away a commanding 4-1 lead in a 6-5 defeat to Stuart Bingham at the Barbican.

“I completely blew it,” admitted McGill after his defeat. “I’m really disappointed because I feel I should have won the match.

“You don’t play Ronnie that often and especially for him to give you chances.

“But I missed far too many chances and I probably won’t get a better chance to beat him in the future.

“I was rubbish and the better player definitely won. I didn’t deserve to win. I just wasn’t concentrating at all. I felt
absolutely fine and I wasn’t nervous but I just kept taking my eye off stupid balls.”

And McGill stressed the occasion of playing the four-time UK champion had not got to him.

He added: “I didn’t feel like, ‘Oh my god I’m playing Ronnie O’Sullivan’, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

“I certainly had chances to be 4-0 up after the interval but I just let him off the hook and paid the price.

“I hope it’s all part of the learning experience but only time will tell.

“I’ve had games like that before where I’ve thrown it away but hopefully the experience will help me win these big matches in future. But I’ve secured my place in the top 32 now so I’m over the moon with that because it shows I’m making progress.

“I’d like to pick Ronnie’s brain on a few things because he seems quite complimentary about me. He’s offered to help out with a few things.”

Graeme Dott also lost and missed out on qualification for the Masters

McGill pocketed breaks of 55 and 41 but missed good chances to go 3-0 ahead before O’Sullivan responded with runs of 98, 125, 46, 57 and 97 to set up a semi-final showdown with Englishman Bingham.

A break of 103 from McGill gave the Scot hope of forcing a deciding frame but O’Sullivan made his
experience count and was full of praise for his young opponent.

He said: “I just want to say what a great player Anthony is, what a great character he is and what a fantastic ambassador he is for snooker.

“We talk about characters, he’s my type of character. He’s eccentric, he loves the game, he a really lovely boy and I’m a fan, I’m sold on him. In a way I’m pleased to be through but I would have been happy for him because you can only wish people like him good luck but obviously I’m really pleased to get through.”

Meanwhile, former world champion Dott knocked in breaks of 68, 92, 68 and 65, but lost five of the next frames against Bingham as he saw his semi-final place go begging.

A deflated Dott, who has now missed out on qualification for the Masters in January, said: “The snooker gods didn’t want me to win that match.

“At 4-1 I was in the balls to go 5-1 and I got a kick, it was definitely going to be 5-1 and the match is done then.

“You start to think that maybe it’s not going to be your day.

“I certainly didn’t have any luck in that match but that’s just the way it goes.

“To fall at the last hurdle is truly gut-wrenching because it means I’ll miss the Masters.”

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