Stephen Maguire playing well enough to test Masters hero Allen

Quarter-finals
Eurosport 1 & BBC2, 1pm & 7pm Friday

After a profligate start to his Betway UK Championship last-16 clash with against Neil Robertson, Mark Allen finished with a wet sail to defeat the Australian 6-5 in York.

Early on Robbo had nicked a few frames on the black, but the Pistol made back-to-back tons in the last two frames to stay in the tournament.

Allen has been playing well for months now and he's definitely good enough at his best to add to his Masters triumph in January.

Stephen Maguire, who Allen meets for a place in the semi-finals, is bidding to fine-tune his game with a view to enjoying greater success at the Crucible in April.

It could be close with Maguire playing so promisingly, and going over 9.5 frames might be the bet.

Joe Perry's reward for his 6-4 victory over Judd Trump is a last-eight crack at Tom Ford.

The Gentleman is getting better with age and ought to take the beating against an opponent who struggled to get over the line against inexperienced Lu Ning in the last 16.

Back the favourite to successfully concede Ford a start of 1.5 frames.

Recommendations
M Allen v S Maguire over 9.5 frames
1pt 6-5 Hills
J Perry -1.5 frames
1pt 8-11 Betfred, Sky Bet

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