Mark Allen has branded Ronnie O’Sullivan a “bully” after knocking him out of the Champion of Champions event.
The pair clashed during the last frame of Allen’s impressive 6-3 quarter-final win with the Rocket firing an angry outburst at the World No 8 for being in his eyeline.
Referee Marcel Eckardt repeatedly asked world champion O’Sullivan to “stop it now” and “just play snooker”.
“Ronnie tries to bully people out there but I wasn’t having any of it!” slammed Antrim man Allen.
“Marcel said ‘let it go’, but I’m not going to let it go if he’s going to talk rubbish.
“To be honest it was uncomfortable for Ronnie, he was saying I was in his eyeline, standing in his shots and moving in my seat.
“It’s the worst thing he could have done because it fired me up.
“Sometimes he just needs putting back in his place.”
Allen missed the 13th red for a memorable maximum 147 break.
But runs of 78, 102, 104, 74 and 66 did the damage to set up a tasty semi-final showdown with world No 1 Judd Trump in tomorrow night’s semi-final.
