Player of the Month: August: Mark Allen

As I continue my countdown of the best players of 2014 it's time to take a look back at August where the on song player throughout the tournaments in the month was Northern Ireland's Mark Allen. These were my thoughts on him:

Mark Allen’s efforts in August on tour were by far the most impressive, earning him my pick for August’s player of the month. In the opening European Tour event (the Riga Open) he lost 4-3 in the final against Mark Selby (having been 3-0 ahead), after beating Ryan Causton, Anthony Hamilton, Ben Woollaston, Mark Williams, Sean O’Sullivan and Anthony McGill. The second European Tour event, the Paul Hunter Classic at the back end of August he managed to go one better taking the title with victories against Lee Walker, Alex Borg, Luca Brecel, Robert Milkins, Alan McManus and Rod Lawler before overcoming Judd Trump in the final.

These were some of the defining moments of Mark Allen’s August:

Mark Selby 4-3 Mark Allen – In the final of the first European Tour event of the season Mark Allen met World Champion Mark Selby who was in fine form just as Allen was. Allen was in total control during the early stages of this match with a break of 74 making it 1-0, before he doubled his lead with a run of 56 (after a 54 from Selby) and with two chances in the third frame he made it 3-0 and went just a frame from the Riga Open title. As ever though Selby battled back into the match winning the fourth with a break of 65 before a century left him just a frame behind at 2-3. A contribution of 62 in the sixth was enough for the Jester to force a decider. In the decider Allen had the first chance but only made 33 and the 63 that followed from Selby was the key factor in him winning the frame and the match 4-3 from 3-0 behind, an incredibly disappointing result for Allen.

Mark Allen 4-2 Judd Trump – When Mark Allen got his chance again in the final of the Paul Hunter Classic he didn’t want to let it go, and was desperate to finish off the weekend in style. After a break of 52 in the first from Trump, Allen was able to come back and win the frame on the black. That didn’t faze Judd though as he hit back with a run of 92 to make it 1-1. The next two frames didn’t have the same kind of quality scoring but they were shared for the scores to be level at 2-2. It wasn’t clear cut again in frame five for either player but a break of 49 from the Northern Irishman to move a frame from victory again at 3-2. This time though he did complete the job and get his victory on the European Tour after missing out last time, taking his first chance in frame six as a break of 88 was enough for Allen to win the match 4-2 and take the Paul Hunter Classic title.

Mark really is a fantastic scorer when in amongst the balls and he is starting to show that more and more now. His record in the European Tour events is brilliant as he showed when winning consecutive ET titles in 2013 and again in August with his runner-up and winning performances in the first two events securing a high seeding for the Tour finals which he has definitely qualified for. The job now for a player of Allen’s huge ability is to start taking this form into full ranking events and adding to his two World Open titles. Later on in the year he did make the Shanghai Masters final and the International Championship final, but he would’ve been gutted to lose both of those playing against players of similar ability to him. However, you feel the signs are there that Mark is improving in all aspects of his game and working harder at his snooker as he comes closer and closer to winning more big titles, and he now needs to transfer this to events in the UK where he hasn’t quite been as prolific, and the Masters event first thing in the New Year would be a brilliant time to make that step up.

 

Mark Allen has certainly had a brilliant time of things in the back half of 2014, but has he done enough to become my Player of the year? Well, there are plenty more contenders for that title and i'll reveal another tomorrow as I look back on September.