Mark Allen admits he is putting too much pressure on himself after crashing out of the Northern Ireland Open in the first round.

‘The Pistol’ was expected to enjoy a strong run on home soil after making it through to the semi-finals at the Champion of Champions last week.

However, he suffered a shock 4-1 loss to world number 90 Niu Zhuang in the opening round on Monday. Niu achieved breaks of 122 and 71 on course to victory and Allen, who is priced at 19.00 to win the UK Championship 2018, admitted he struggled with the additional pressure of being in front of a home crowd.

Allen said: “I am probably putting myself under too much pressure to play well for the wrong reasons. Being a snooker player you have to be quite selfish and play for yourself all year round.

“Coming here I try and play for the fans. I try to win for the fans and I want to win the tournament for them.”

The Antrim-born potter wasn’t the only big name to crash out of the competition on the opening day as John Higgins and Stuart Bingham also suffered early exits.

Four-time world champion Higgins had beaten Rory McLeod in each of their previous six meetings but lost 4-2 to the world number 61.

Meanwhile, English Open champion Bingham was tipped to go far at the event but couldn’t find his rhythm. Bingham saw his hopes of claiming the £1million bonus, which comes with winning all four Home Nations Events, ended following a 4-2 loss to Peter Lines.