BBC pundit Steve Davis calls out star's 'unforgivable' error at World Snooker Championship
Joe O'Connor was left to rue a costly mistake in his World Snooker Championship defeat to John Higgins, with Steve Davis branding the error "unforgivable"
Snooker icon Steve Davis was left scratching his head over a crucial decision made by Joe O'Connor during his defeat to John Higgins on Monday. The World Snooker Championship match was still up for grabs with the score level at 7-7 in a tense 15th frame, but Higgins' victory marked the beginning of the end for O'Connor.
The 'Wizard of Wishaw' went on to clinch the next two frames, securing his place in the following round with a 10-7 win.
The 15th frame alone took a whopping 37 minutes to decide, with O'Connor having to think outside the box as he tried to claw back a 17-point deficit with only the pink and black remaining on the table.
The 29-year-old stepped up to the plate with a brilliant shot. With the cue ball tucked behind the black, Higgins narrowly missed the pink, adding six more points to O'Connor's tally.
However, instead of forcing Higgins to try and escape from the snooker again, O'Connor chose to play a difficult safety shot himself, leaving the cue ball near the side cushion.
This move backfired when Higgins played his own snooker, leading to O'Connor leaving an opportunity for a pink pot that was swiftly taken by his rival.
Davis was left stunned that Higgins wasn't put under more pressure after failing to escape from O'Connor's initial snooker, reports the Express.
The 67-year-old former six-time world champion shared his bewilderment with the BBC, lamenting: "[O'Connor] played a brilliant snooker, a tough one for John Higgins to get out of.
"The thing I cannot understand is why did Joe O'Connor not put John Higgins back in? Joe O'Connor was in a position to make him play that shot again.
"I think that's a tough safety shot [O'Connor took on]. And as it worked out, the safety shot Joe O'Connor played, John Higgins gets a snooker back from it. That was strange.
"You can miss the pots, but your decision-making and positional [play] sometimes goes awry and you stop making the correct decisions under pressure.
"That at the end was unforgivable, not to put your opponent back in, for me. John would have fully expected, in my opinion, to be put back in there and have to play a containing safety."
Meanwhile, Higgins powered through to continue his run at the Crucible, holding back tears during a TV interview as he spoke of his father-in-law's recent heart attack.