ALAN McMANUS believes he must go back to the drawing board after a surprising first-round defeat continued his UK Snooker Championship hoodoo at the Barbican.
Despite a relatively successful season including victories over the likes of Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stephen Maguire, McManus lost 6-1 to 20-year-old Joel Walker in York. "Joel played very well and I just didn't play well enough," said McManus. "My preparation was all right but I don't feel sharp and that was probably the reason I played so poorly."
Scott Donaldson had a promising run at the UK Championship last year but fell at the first hurdle this time around. He could find only slim consolation from the fact that he went down to a fellow Scot.
The 20-year-old was one of a strong crop of home hopefuls at the Barbican in 2013, and beat Matthew Selt and Mark Davis before slipping to defeat at the hands of Joe Perry.
This time around, a first-round meeting with Marcus Campbell, from Dumbarton, proved an obstacle too far. Campbell clinched a 6-4 victory on the opening afternoon and Donaldson conceded he had been beaten by the better man.
"If I'm going to lose to anyone, I would rather it's to someone from Scotland; it's good to support them," he said. "I didn't deserve to win out there; it's as simple as that.
"All I can say is good luck to him because he's a good guy. You don't know what's around the corner. Lisbon's up next, so I'm looking forward to that . . . seeing as it's where Celtic won the European Cup."
Graeme Dott, the former world champion, saw off the challenge of the Swiss teenager Alexander Ursenbacher 6-2. Dott had lost both of his last two competitive matches, including a 6-1 defeat by Craig Steadman in the first round of China's International Championship, but insisted those defeats are firmly behind him.
Dott was relieved. "The first four frames . . . I managed to win them all but it could have been any score."
Ross Muir, the Scottish teenager, nearly pulled off the tournament's first major surprise, but went down 6-5 to Peter Ebdon. "There weren't many balls missed," said Muir. "It's another good experience and to push Peter to 6-5 isn't bad."
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