AN agonising piece of misfortune cost Pickering professional Paul Davison £1,000 in prize money and vital ranking points in a last-frame decider against Dave Finbow in the third qualifying round of the LG Cup last week.

Needing just pink and black to book a fourth round spot against David Roe, Davison got a nasty kick on the cueball, causing him to miss the pink and letting Finbow in to clinch the match.

The incident typified Davison's bad luck in the second week of qualifying matches at Burton-upon-Trent. Having won four out of five matches in the first week, the Pickering cueman lost his next three, despite playing his best snooker in those defeats.

"If I'd played another 20 times like that, I probably wouldn't have lost. I played as good as I ever had," a disappointed Davison said.

After losing by the odd frame to Martin Dziewialtowski in the British Open, world number 98 Davison lost 5-2 to Munraj Pal in the second round of the Regal Welsh tournament, despite making five half century breaks. Crucially, Pal won three frames after fluking a pot in each one.

Davison was due to compete in a pro-am in North Wales this week but was disqualified after he was late for his first match, following a mix up over his start-time. His next big tournament is the Benson and Hedges event in Mansfield in late October.

Updated: 10:00 Wednesday, September 18, 2002