Snooker Season 2021/22

Some very animated people among that audience tonight!

Mark's a little bit rattled, didn't expect the miss on the yellow. Reannes a decent player, good potter and can see her winning plenty of matches. Needs to improve cue ball control to be able to take on the real top guys on a consistent basis, though.

Hendry said it was as tense a match as he'd ever seen, or since Higgins-Taylor anyway. He's probably right. Mark leaving that red along the cushion turned out to be a psychological masterstroke, though I did think she'd pot it tbh.

Hendry started off quite well tonight but getting increasingly ragged the longer the match wears on. Should have closed it out already, wakelin has been really poor.

Got it done in the end but only after wakelin butchered 2 proper chances. Same as Reanne last night for me, they'll both win a few matches playing like that, but without troubling the top guys who don't generally mess up when they're handed 2 or 3 plum chances to win most frames.

Aaron actually won his next match after Ronnie, against Matt Stevens, as well as a few others, but i think he faces a struggle alright to get inside top 64 and retain his card. Ken and Fergal both have the experience to draw on that Aaron doesn't have. Needs to get a little run of results somewhere to boost confidence and belief, a good spell practising in Sheffield wouldn't be a bad idea. Still a long way to go yet.

I do know Aaron spent a bit of time over in Sheffield earlier this year himself, but not sure if that's in his plans this season. Money could be an issue, though i believe he's doing ok sponsorship wise. It would definitely help, for sure. Young wexford kid Adam Halnon been working over in ding academy with Nigel Bond the past while so maybe a name to watch out for over next year or two.

Been said before, a lot of good players get on tour and don't make it first time - Barry Hawkins, Neil Robertson, Martin Gould, to name just 3. I think robbo might have failed twice before he finally nailed it. Obviously, I'd prefer that not to happen with Aaron so I think he's just going to have to dig deep and start developing the conviction that he belongs there. I agree on the ronnie thing, the media exposure over the following weeks probably wasn't the best thing for him at that stage. What he needs is a run to the last 32 or 16, 2 or 3 solid wins against decent mid ranked pros he has the beating of. Win two matches every ranking event, you secure your card. Easier said than done, of course, and you can do with a bit of luck from the draw. I'm just hopeful for him at this stage really, he's so much better than he's showing but it's just a grimly tough school!