Mark Allen hits back after stinging Steve Davis criticism at World Championship

Mark Allen has stood by his defensive approach during the marathon 100-minute frame against Wu Yize, which set a new record for the longest frame in Crucible history.

The 40-year-old Northern Irishman suffered a heartbreaking 17-16 defeat in their World Championship semi-final on Saturday evening, missing a black off its spot in the penultimate frame that would have secured victory.

Six-time world champion Steve Davis labelled the gruelling 14th frame on Friday an "embarrassment to snooker," but Allen remained unapologetic about his tactical choices.

Despite the crushing loss, the former Masters and UK Championship winner conducted himself graciously towards his 22-year-old Chinese opponent both at the table and in his subsequent press conference.

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The extraordinary frame eclipsed the previous Crucible record of 85 minutes and 22 seconds, which had been established by Yan Bingtao and four-time world champion Mark Selby in 2022.

During one particularly attritional passage lasting 31 minutes, Allen and Wu exchanged 75 consecutive safety shots as eight reds clustered around a pocket, shielding the black ball from attack.

The tactical stalemate reached such extremes that no balls were potted for a 56-minute period, prompting criticism of referee Marcel Eckardt from pundits who felt he should have intervened sooner to call for a re-rack.

Allen took the record-breaking frame in good humour, noting that Mark Selby had texted him afterwards saying: "He doesn't have many records left. So happy to steal that one off him."

Allen expressed frustration with how tournament officials handled the situation, though he was careful to praise Eckardt as "probably our best ref" on the circuit.

His primary concern centred on the timing of fellow referee Rob Spencer's appearance at the table, which came under instruction from tournament director Martin Clark.

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"It's just very coincidental that he appeared and Marcel's next words to us were three shots each," Allen said.

Both Clark and Spencer assured Allen that no pressure was applied regarding a re-rack, with World Snooker Tour confirming Spencer merely informed Eckardt it would be the final frame of the session.

Allen felt the referee could have acted earlier, giving players the chance to resolve matters or accept a re-rack sooner, rather than after he had invested an hour in the tactical battle.

The Antrim player firmly rejected the notion of introducing shot clocks to speed up play, arguing that certain shots simply require extended deliberation.

"Shot clocks, I'm not for. Sometimes shots just take a long time," Allen stated.

He did suggest potential modifications to the re-rack rule, proposing that players might retain their points when carrying over to a fresh frame, or perhaps begin with the same number of reds remaining.

Allen acknowledged that with hindsight, accepting the re-rack while leading 7-6 might have been wiser, but his confidence in eventually forcing Wu into an error kept him committed to the safety exchange.

"I just wasn't given that opportunity by the referee and the tournament officials," he reflected.

He did, however, emphasise the incident had no bearing on the final outcome.

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