Mark Allen has backed Barry Hearn's bid to clamp down on slow play in snooker after he safely made his way into the second round of the UK Championships in York.
The 32-year-old Allen was certainly no slouch as he rattled in two centuries on his way to a 6-2 win over Egypt's Basem Eltahhan.
But World Snooker chairman Hearn had earlier described slow play during the first-round match between Rod Lawler and Anthony Hamilton - in which only six of nine frames could be played in their allotted session - as "diabolical".
And while Allen expressed sympathy for the eventual winner Lawler, whose shot time hovered around the 40-second mark, he insisted others should face sanction for "deliberate" slow play.
Allen said: "I really felt for them both out there today, only getting six frames in and Barry slaughtering them on Twitter.
"Rod is probably the only player who always plays that way so I don't think it would be be fair if he was punished for it.
"With others I think it's gamesmanship and I think it should be stamped out. You've got too many players down at the bottom end that do it deliberately - but they're not winning tournaments so who really cares."
Allen shrugged off his disappointing early exit at last week's Northern Ireland Open and showed glimpses of the form which swept him to the International Championship title last month.
And Allen is confident he is beginning to establish the kind of momentum which took him to his only previous UK final in 2011.
"I feel like I'm one of the contenders this year," added Allen. "I've probably come here in recent years and not been a name on people's lips, but I feel like my recent performances have changed that."
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