Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen insists he is ready for any challenge as he reached the quarter-finals of the Players Championship on Monday night.

The number one seed proved too much for Scotland’s Stephen Maguire in Preston as he recorded a comfortable 6-2 success. Allen took the early initiative with breaks of 67 and 61 allowing him to build a 5-0 lead.

Maguire showed his fighting spirit to claw back two frames, thanks to breaks of 63 and 77, the latter having come when Allen had closed to within touching distance of the win with a run of 60. It was all over in the next frame though with Allen’s 66 sealing his passage.

He will now meet either Stuart Bingham or David Gilbert in the next round and although he admits he is not quite at his best, he is confident he can beat anyone on his day. The 33-year-old told World Snooker:

“Playing Stephen is not very nice because he’s one of my best mates. It’s good to get the win and move on. I was patchy, I made breaks at crucial times. There are plenty of positives to take though Stephen wasn’t at his best.

“I’m not quite where I want to be with my game. I didn’t play in India or the Shoot Out and I’m not going to play in Gibraltar so I’ve got time to prepare for the big tournaments. Something I have struggled with in recent years is finding the balance in terms of which tournaments to play in.

“Last year I was struggling to stay in the top 16 so I had to play in everything. Now I can pick and choose more but that brings its own pressure because you’re missing tournaments that others are playing in.

“They (Gilbert and Bingham) are two of the in form players who have got to finals this season. They are both probably playing snooker than I am but I have belief in my ability.”

Allen is now 8.00 to win the title this week, while Judd Trump is also well fancied at odds of 3.80.