Snooker: Mark Allen calls on legend Taylor to get him into quarters

MARK ALLEN made sure of his place in the Betfred.com World Championship snooker quarter-finals as the seeds looked set to be scattered in Sheffield.

Defending champion John Higgins, Grand Prix winner Neil Robertson and world No.2 Stephen Maguire were all in danger of making second-round exits from the tournament today.

Northern Irishman Allen is bidding to become his country's first world champion since Dennis Taylor beat Steve Davis in the epic 1985 black ball final.

He made short work of England's Mark Davis, winning eight of the ten frames they contested yesterday and finishing with back-to-back centuries, to seal a 13-5 victory and become the first man into the final eight. Allen had a chat with Taylor before the evening session started and fired in his breaks of 131 and 101 to guarantee himself an early night.

"Obviously it's good to have a Northern Irishman who's won the world title and you can always learn off people like that," said 24-year-old Allen.

Graeme Dott was looking likely to be Allen's next opponent. after he opened up a 7-1 lead over world No.2 Maguire.

Higgins was facing a tough morning against resurgent 52-year-old Steve Davis after sliding 9-7 behind after two sessions. Their match was due to finish by lunchtime. And Australian Robertson, the world No.9 and current Grand Prix champion, was having a torrid time against Martin Gould and ended the evening 11-5 in arrears.