Fly-eating snooker star slammed for ‘jacking it in’ as he controversially concedes final frame at World Championship
STEPHEN MAGUIRE was slammed by a former world snooker champion for “jacking it in” early as he conceded his final Crucible frame.
Trailing 12-8 to David Gilbert, the Scotsman was 31 points behind with the six colours – a total of 27 points – left on the table in frame 21.
Requiring one snooker, Mags potted the yellow but then the cue ball unfortunately nestled against the pink.
Rather than try to hit the green and hide it somewhere on the table, he turned round and shook Gilbert’s hand to say well done.
Ken Doherty, the 1997 world champion, said: “One snooker required. Don’t jack it in!
“This is the World Championship. Anything can happen.
“You win that frame with a snooker and the other guy is sort of twitching a little bit. Never give up in a month of Sundays!”
Maguire, 43, explained his surprise concession, which came in light of him falling 9-2 behind following a dreadful start to the tie.
The Glaswegian said: “Did you see where the cue ball landed? It was happening to me all through the match.
“I would have had to get the spider out. I was never going to snooker him from that shot. Ah, there was no point, it was just wasting time really.
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“I’m very disappointed. I thought I just handed the match to him. As if I said, ‘Dave, there you go, there’s your semi-final.’ Which I hate doing.
“The first session, I don’t know what happened and then it was a long way back.
“I wouldn’t take any positives from that match. Good luck to Dave, he’s a good kid.”
Qualifier Gilbert, 42, ended up winning 13-8, and is into the semi-finals for the first time since 2019 when he was beaten by John Higgins.
The Angry Farmer said: “It was fantastic when he shook my hand!
“I will buy Stephen a pint if I ever bump into him. I was surprised as much as anybody. I am a huge Stephen Maguire fan. It’s his decision.
“Of course, you want your hand shaken as quickly as you can and get out of there.
“This is a massive achievement. Five weeks ago I couldn’t be even bothered to turn up to play the qualifiers – I’d turn up and take my £10k.”