SHEFFIELD potter Judd Trump suffered disappointment yesterday as he failed to qualify for next month's Betfred.com World Championship.
The world No 30 crashed to a 10-3 defeat to Leicester cueman Tom Ford in the final round of qualifying at the EIS.
"I'm gutted, I had a nightmare first session," reflected Trump. "Tom played well, I never performed.
"It's disappointing, I wanted to play at the Crucible again; it's special." Ford won the opening frame with a break of 56, but Trump hit back with
runs of 44 and 52.
But that was as good as it got as Ford powered into a commanding 8-1 lead after the morning session of their pair's best-of-frame clash on Trump's home turf.
Breaks of 69, 53, 79, 54 and 55 did the damage as Trump was left reeling with his opponent needing just two frames to progress in the afternoon session.
Trump rallied to reduce his arrears thanks to breaks of 77 and 72 after Ford had started the final session with a cool 120 break to edge within one frame of victory. His performance was capped off with a match-clinching break of 100.
"It's every player's ambition to get to the Crucible, it's a bad way for me to end the season," admitted Trump. "It was always going to be difficult to come back from 8-1, it was a mountain to climb. But I had a couple of decent breaks and if I'd have won a couple more frames then who knows? "But Tom was the better player. I've got no complaints,"
In other matches former world champion champion Ken Doherty made sure of his Crucible qualification with an 10-1 victory over Ulsterman Joe Swail in their all-Irish clash.
"It's an unbelieveable feeling to have won, it's great to be going back to the Crucible," said Doherty, who reeled off nine frames on the spin from 1-1 to triumph.
"It's be a really hard slog all season but my confidence has come back. It's exciting for me because my form is starting to come back, you start to doubt yourself when you're losing."
Nottingham cueman Michael Holt beat Kilkenny youngster David Morris 10-6, part-time Middlesex croupier Martin Gould defeated Nigel Bond 10-4, while former Crucible quarter-finalist Ian McCulloch lost 10-7 to Dartford professional Barry Hawkins.
What do you think? Add your comment below. JOIN THE STAR READER PANEL:
The Star is YOUR newspaper, so tell us what you think about it and what you want to see - CLICK HERE.
Don't miss our daily pull-outs - only in the The Star: Monday Star Sport, Tuesday Class Act; Wednesday Business; Thursday Grassroots; Friday Time Out; Saturday Retro. Subscribe to The Star - CLICK HEREREAD MORESubscribe to The Star or Green 'UnVisit our Matchday Centre for free live coverage of every matchFootball headlines. Football gossip. Blades news Owls news Reds news. Millers news. More rugby. More boxing. Sports columnists. All sport categories Free E-Mag: Premier League 2009-10 PreviewWatch Premiership highlights, international football, golf, tennis, darts and much more - click here 