Teenager Carty takes positives from Barbican exit

Carty – the England under-21 champion – arrived at the Barbican in York on Tuesday afternoon ready for a mouth-watering clash with world No.5 Hawkins.

Despite slipping to a 6-1 defeat, the match was far from one-sided – something re-assuring Carty that he is on the right track towards a professional career.

And if that weren’t ample encouragement, the teenager was able to cast his mind back two years when he first met Hawkins as a 16-year-old.

“I feel like I have improved a lot,” he said. “I gave him a better game now than I did before so I’m really happy with my progress.

“It gives me a lot of confidence because I haven’t been absolutely demolished. I’ve given him a good run for his money so there are a lot of positives to take from it.

“It’s great experience and next time hopefully I won’t be as nervous as I was. It just makes me realise how good you have got to be to make some money in this game.

“I always know if I play well then I’m going to give someone a game so I’ve just got to play the best that I can and hopefully one day it will come off.

“I’ll just keep entering these tournaments and with Q-School I will just try to get on the tour this year – and hopefully I will.”

Carty also had the added benefit of mum Vicky, dad John and a host of other family and friends watching on at the Barbican as he went head-to-head with Hawkins.

And he was pleased to offer them a display to be proud of – something he is hoping to repeat when jetting off to Lisbon for next month’s Players Tour Championship event.

He added: “I’m only from Rotherham so I had quite a few people coming to watch me, which was nice. My mum and dad and a few others all came along to watch.

“If I had taken my chances it would have probably been a better score-line. His safety was unbelievable – it was on the cushion every time I came to the table.

“It was really difficult to play against but I’m just happy with how I’ve played and I can take a lot of positives from it.”

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