UK Championship: Pressure now on, admits Leeds veteran Lines

Having caused the upset of the tournament so far at the York Barbican by knocking out reigning champion Neil Robertson in round one, Lines followed that up with a hard-fought 6-4 win over Chris Wakelin late on Saturday evening.

Competing as an amateur after dropping off the tour last season, the Leeds cueman raced into a 5-2 lead against Wakelin and although the Rugby potter battled back within one frame, the 46-year-old eventually sealed the win.

Lines made the UK Championship quarter-finals back in 2009 and has a glorious opportunity to move within one victory of matching that feat when he faces world No.106 Highfield from 1pm today.

“There’s pressure on both of us because we’ll both be thinking that we’ve got a great chance to progress,” said Lines.

“I’d love to get back to the quarter-finals here but I’d just like to beat Liam Highfield first and then take it from there.

“I think we’ve played a few times and I’m slightly in front on the head-to-head but Liam’s a great player.

“I thought I played really positively up until 5-2 against Chris [Wakelin] but all of a sudden I lost a frame and it got a little bit tense.

“The final frame was awful – he missed, then I missed, then he missed but eventually I fell over the line. It was just relief more than anything to win it.”

A by-product of Lines’ success at this year’s UK Championship, which has seen him earn £10,000 so far, is that he is now in contention to earn a fresh two-year tour card via the one-year money list.

Last week he told The Yorkshire Post that he considered retiring from the sport upon losing his tour card at the end of last season but claims he would be open to a full-time return to the tour, providing it wouldn’t affect son Oliver – also a professional snooker player.

“I probably would accept a tour card if it comes about,” said Lines. “I wasn’t 100 per cent certain whether I would carry on playing or not once I fell off the tour last season.

“That was mainly because I don’t want to come to tournaments if it’s going to affect Oliver’s performance.

“I’m not one of these blokes that says ‘I’m sick of the game, I’m going to jack it in’ because I still absolutely love snooker.

“But if I thought it was affecting Oliver’s performance I would stop because I want to see him get to the very top – I think that’s where he belongs with his dedication and attitude.

“It’s difficult when I’m playing in tournaments because he’s watching me and it can be a bit painful.

“He says it doesn’t affect him but it’s difficult to know – that would be the only reason I wouldn’t take a tour card.”

There was further Yorkshire interest in the second round on Sunday as Pickering’s Paul Davison took on Ben Woollaston – ultimately suffering a 6-4 defeat.

There was little to separate the men as Davison made a classy 96 break in frame six to level proceedings at 3-3 before Woollaston put his foot on the accelerator to win three of the final four frames and seal victory.

The Leicester man will now face three-time UK Champion John Higgins in the last 32 and Davison admits missing out on that glamour tie makes defeat tougher to take.

“It would have been nice to get through and get back in the main arena against John Higgins,” said the 45-year-old.

“So that’s another blow I suppose – to lose is disappointing.

“It was quite a good standard. Just a couple of flicks here and there didn’t go my way and that was probably the difference between us.

“I had to dig in a bit as the match went on. Once it went 5-4 I had to try get to a decider to at least to give myself a chance of winning but it just wasn’t to be.”

Meanwhile, there was a potential upset on Sunday night as Oliver Lines - sporting a nifty pair of shoes - needed just one more frame to beat world No 3 Judd Trump, leading 5-2.

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