Mark Allen delighted the Crucible crowd by accepting sweets from a spectator after a brilliant 140 break during his World Championship quarter-final against Kyren Wilson. The Northern Irishman, leading 9-7 ahead of Saturday's final session, took a treat offered by an audience member and washed it down with his usual cup of warm water.
Allen had earlier surged into a 5-0 lead on Thursday evening, but Wilson fought back to level the match. The 2024 champion then took the first three frames of Friday's second session to lead for the first time. However, Allen showed typical tenacity, winning four of the last five frames to regain control.
The light-hearted moment came after Allen's impressive century break in the 15th frame, as he headed back to his chair and accepted the sweets. The gesture contrasted with Wilson's cue troubles, which have plagued him throughout the tournament. Wilson had earlier joked about biting the tip off his cue after Allen was seen sinking his teeth into it the previous evening.
Wilson has been struggling with his cue, describing it as "awful" and saying he "hates" it. Pundit Dominic Dale commented: "I can't help but wait for the season to finish for Kyren, so he can sort out the problems. He'd love to bite that tip off." Wilson admitted: "It's never going to be right. I can win with it, but I don't think I'll ever hit the potential that I'm capable of."
The match resumes on Saturday morning with Allen holding a two-frame advantage in the best-of-25 encounter.
