Eurosport pundit Neal Foulds was left shocked by a ‘nightmare’ mistake from Oliver Lines at the Northern Ireland Open. The 29-year-old went into his match against Mark Allen as the clear underdog and took a while to get going in the opening frame.

Lines attempted a plant down the right rail but missed by some distance, giving Allen an opportunity to find his rhythm. Upon his return to the table, Lines got off the mark with a red to the right corner but did not cover himself in glory with his next shot.

The man from Leeds was left with an awkward cut on the black and needed the rest to give himself a chance of finding the pocket. He ended up potting it perfectly but his cue slipped out of his hand, resulting in Lines knocking the cue ball on its way back.

Lines flashed a wry smile as he walked back to his chair, with his error putting Allen in the driving seat early on.

Foulds was running the rule over the match for Eurosport and said: “Oh, goodness me! That is one of those nightmarish scenarios. You can’t get the equipment away quickly enough. It’s something he’s smiling about.

“It’s actually made a huge difference. He would have been in behind the red but he just couldn’t get the equipment away quickly enough. Just watch this. Oh, goodness me, that is an absolute nightmare scenario for anybody.”

Lines went on to recover from his glaring mistake by winning the opening frame, with Allen blowing two chances to seal it for himself. The latter is hoping to reclaim the title in front of his home fans, having won the Northern Ireland Open in 2021 and 2022.

Earlier this week, Allen hit out at the World Snooker Tour by accusing bosses of having their ‘favourite’ stars and suggesting that he was being denied the level of coverage he deserved.

Reflecting on his brief spell at the top of the world rankings in the summer, Allen said: “It was a bit anti-climactic. It wasn’t really enjoyable, if I’m honest. I feel like I got very poor coverage from the governing body.

“I didn’t get a lot of coverage here [in Northern Ireland], even turning up at events and I wasn’t on the main table all the time. Ultimately, if you keep winning matches and keep winning tournaments then that takes care of itself.

“It was a bit of a comedown, really. I just feel like World Snooker have their favourites and that’s it.”