Snooker aces drop the ball

ANTRIM snooker stars Mark Allen and Jordan Brown were both knocked out of this week’s Gibraltar Open - but they took a few scalps along the way.

Allen missed out on a place in the last 16 after being beaten 4-3 by Robert Milkins.

The Antrim man had been 3-1 ahead but his failure to take his chances in the fifth came back to haunt him as Milkins hit breaks of 94 and 76 to take the last three frames.

Earlier, Allen had beaten Mark Joyce and Steven Hallworth to progress.

Jordan Brown went one better, making through to the fourth round where he lost 4-3 to Jamie Jones.

Along the way he inflicted heavy defeats on Louis Heathcote, Luke Pinches and Martin O’Donnell.

Indeed, he won all three matches without dropping a single frame - hinting that he may have found the sort of form that saw him lift aloft the Welsh Open title.