SHOKAT Ali missed his chance of a place in the last 16 of the LG Cup at the Guild Hall in Preston when he was whitewashed by Alan McManus 5-0 yesterday afternoon.

The Blackburn snooker star admitted the miss of an easy red while clear in the first frame cost him the chance to earn valuable world ranking points.

"To be honest he did play well," said Ali. "But I had a good chance in the first frame, I was in with 47 and then missed an easy red.

"Instead of being 1-0 up I was 1-0 down and chasing the game. I was left chasing the game and everything I tried to do right, went wrong.

"That meant that I was going to the table 30-40 points behind and I paid for not getting off to a good start. The miss of the straightforward red proved fatal."

Ali will pick up £7,800 for reaching the last 32 but he could not hide his regret at not building on Saturday's defeat of John Parrott as he explained: "I am very disappointed.

"I am an experienced enough player to know that your previous game counts for nothing at this level."

The loss was even more hard to take because he had the chance to make an impact on one of only six ranking tournaments this season and he admitted: "The lack of tournaments is very disappointing for all the players.

"With so few competitions every match is a real do or die job. If you are a tennis player or a golfer you might lose one week but you always know that there is another event just around the corner.

"Now I have got the qualifiers for the Benson and Hedges Masters but that is really a pro-am and you have to win it to get a wild card.

"Other than that it is the qualifiers for the World Championships and in reality you become nothing more than a part-time player.

"That is not what you want when you are trying to be a professional sportsman."

Ali, 32, who is based at John's Snooker Club in Blackburn, looked to have won a tactical battle in the first frame as he got in with 47 after more than eight minutes without a point being scored. But it went rapidly downhill from there as he struggled to find his best form.

Meanwhile on the adjoining table Ronnie O'Sullivan was showing why he is rated the best player in the world as he got to within pink and black of a maximum 147.

Ali admitted: "When you are on a table next top Ronnie you know there is going to be some noise and while he was making his break the ref did mention that he was on for a maximum.

"But you can't let that bother you, all you can do is concentrate on your own match and what you are doing."

For Ali that means plenty more hours on the practice table as he looks to make it to the final stages of competitions later in the season in the hope of improving his world ranking.

And he knows he can't afford to make the mistakes he made at the Guildhall yesterday.