Havant snooker starlet Jamie Wilson ‘taking the positives’ from Scottish Open defeat after wait for first pro tour win goes on

Wilson, who only turned 17 last month, fell to a 4-2 defeat against world No.49 Martin O’Donnell at the Scottish Open as his professional tour adventure continued in Milton Keynes.

The current world No.124 is still chasing his first win but has delivered a series of promising performances against top stars like world No 8 Mark Allen and, on Tuesday night, O’Donnell.

Wilson practices on a Star Table at Waterlooville Sports Bar – which his parents own – and is relishing putting in the hard yards on the baize over the festive period.

He said: ‘I’m just going to stay on the baize all day! I’ll get straight back on.

‘I don’t think it went badly to be honest – [Martin’s] a solid match player. It was a good match and probably one of my best ones yet, even though I lost.

‘I’m just going to try and take the positives from that.

‘He’s No.40 odd in the world and I’m 100, and I got a couple of frames off him. There are positives I can take from it.

‘He played solid and I held my own against him, so it’s alright.

‘I’ve loved [my first season]. I’ve loved every minute of it, apart from the results.

‘It would be good to have a couple of wins, and I’m sure that will come eventually. It’s been good.”

Wilson went 1-0 up against O’Donnell but breaks of 89 and 53 from the 2018 Shoot Out semi-finalist dashed the teenager’s hopes at the Marshall Arena.

Wilson lost 6-1 against Champion of Champions Allen at the UK Championship and was beaten by Matthew Selt and Nigel Bond at the English and Northern Ireland Opens.

Wilson became the youngest ever English player to qualify for the professional tour through Q School earlier this year.

He’s still waiting to get off the mark with a win, but reckons that maiden ranking event triumph is just around the corner.

‘The first couple of events it’s hard to take in, but you get used to it after a while and just wait for your time to come,” he added.

‘I played well then. If I play like that against anyone and play a little bit better, maybe, I could definitely get a win I reckon.’

Watch the Scottish Open live on Eurosport, Eurosport app, and stream on discovery+