Snooker stopped by scoreboard failure

Scoreboard stops play was the unfamiliar situation at the 12Bet.com UK Championship.

A flickering scoreboard in frame 16 of last night's quarter-final between Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson prompted a 15-minute delay as both players left the arena while officials attempted to fix the problem.

Eventually play resumed and Murphy - who was trailing 8-5 on points at the time - missed a red on resumption, but recovered sufficiently to edge a scrappy frame and with it the contest.

"I was never going to come out and pot that red," said Murphy.

"I thought Neil had had quite a lot of luck throughout the match and I thought it wasn't going to be my day.

With regard to the problematic scoreboard, Murphy added: "What's wrong with pen and paper?"

But Murphy was none-the-less delighted when he arrowed in a long red to set up his match-clinching break of 22.

"It was a Murphy classic!," he said.

"I used to pot those all the time. I thought I'm going for this. Sometimes your chances to win don't present themselves when you think they're going to and that was my chance. My next job is to get ready for the semi and I will give it my best."

World No 1 Robertson refused to pin any blame for his defeat on the scoreboard.

"It probably knocked both of us out of our rhythm to be honest." he said.

"He's missed a red and I've missed a blue stretching over the table. It didn't really affect the result — but it didn't come at the right time in the match."