Perth snooker star Scott Donaldson insisted losing to a fellow Scot helped soften the blow of a first round departure at the UK Snooker Championship.
Donaldson went down 6-4 to Dumbarton’s Marcus Campbell in York to crash out at the first hurdle of what is considered one of snooker’s ‘triple crown’ events, along with the World Championship and the Masters.
Defeat was doubly disappointing for the 20-year-old after his impressive run to the third round, including a victory over current world No19 Mark Davis, at the Barbican last year.
But despite making the highest break of the match a fluent 72 in frame eight Donaldson claims his overall performance means he can have no complaints about the final score.
“I didn’t deserve to win out there, it’s as simple as that,” he said.
“The way he played meant Marcus deserved to win and in my opinion I thought it was the right result.
“All I can say is good luck to him because he’s a good guy. If I’m going to lose to anyone, I would rather it’s to someone from Scotland it’s good to support them.
“I really like York it’s a great tournament and I’ve been playing really well. I suppose the fact I made the third round here last year and showed I could win here makes the result even more disappointing.
“But you just take what you can get keep on trying and just enjoy it. What else can you do?”
Before defeat to Campbell at the UK Championship, the world No 80 had been having a relatively successful season, including a run to the Yixing Open quarter-finals in June.
In addition to being satisfied with his results this year, Donaldson is adamant more wins are just around the corner as he prepares to get back on the baize in Portugal in December.
“I’m happy with the way things are going this season,” he added.
“I’ve had a good start and although I would have liked to kick on a bit better, that good start is going to help me.”
Peter Ebdon survived a scare in the first round as he had to fight back to beat Ross Muir 6-5.
The Scotsman raced out into a 2-0 lead, aided by a break of 85 in the second frame but, after claiming a scrappy third, the 2002 world champion registered a 73 in the next to level things up.
The two men then exchanged frames until the contest got to 5-5 and Ebdon edged a decider to move into the second round.
Graeme Dott, another former world champion, did not have such trouble as he eased past Alexander Ursenbache 6-2.
Judd Trump had the easiest afternoon of the lot as he was handed a walkover against China’s Rouzi Maimaiti while Robert Milkins was not given much more resistance in a 6-0 win over Scotland’s Michael Leslie.
World No 5 Barry Hawkins made serene progress as he cruised to a 6-1 win over Ashley Carty while Norwegian Kurt Maflin beat Chris Norbury by the same score.
Nigel Bond’s 132 in the fourth frame gave him a 4-0 lead against Stuart Carrington as he went on to win 6-3.