‘I just felt edgy’ – Mark Allen overcomes early nerves to dismantle Chang Bingyu to advance in Northern Ireland Open

Mark Allen admitted he had to overcome some nerves during his 4-1 victory over Chang Bingyu, as the home favourite made a solid start to his Northern Ireland Open defence. The Antrim man made a couple of errors as he lost the opening frame — something he puts down to nerves. But he quickly gathered his composure at the Waterfront, Belfast, to win the next four and seal his place in the second round.

Ad “I was nervous, I felt good all day and I felt really nervous when I got out there for some reason, just being in Belfast,” Allen told Eurosport’s Jimmy White and Rachel Casey afterwards. British Open'Biggest win of my life' — Day defeats Allen in incredibly tense clash to win British Open02/10/2022 AT 22:21 “I haven't stepped foot in this arena since last year when I won. I was just edgy, and I missed a couple that shouldn't have but after that, yeah, I played some good stuff.

My safety really improved, and I didn't really miss much.” Explaining the reason behind his nerves, Allen continued: “It's probably just a bit of everything. Obviously I'm normally nervous in Belfast but I thought with winning last year, it might not be like that this year. I felt pretty calm all day.

But soon as I got out there, I just felt edgy. It’s the first frame nerves that you get when you're a kid.” Allen blew his opponent away with a 95% pot success rate, but it was his safety game that he was most pleased with, describing it as ‘immaculate’. White agreed, comparing his safety game to that of Mark Selby’s.