BEING hauled off at a crucial stage of any match, let alone your Crucible debut, is tough to take and Michael Wasley appeared extremely reluctant to leave the arena at around 6.30pm trailing Ding Junhui 9-8 in their first-round Dafabet World Championship clash.
But there were no histrionics as referee Terry Camilleri explained the unfortunate situation to a qualifier who had quite simply not been in that position before on the biggest stage.
Wasley had of course done himself proud by hauling himself level at 8-8 from 6-3 down over night before losing the 17th frame and dropping one behind with two to play.
Ding had looked ill at ease for much of the match, not the relaxed figure of all season and lending weight to the view that the venue does get to him. There were frustrated gestures in the arena, and door-banging in the corridor during toilet breaks.
In such situations, though, it is not just the players who are inconvenienced. Bear in mind that some fans had bought tickets to see the conclusion of this match, with many Chinese supporters in the audience supporting Ding.
They were not entitled to see the finale late on Monday night, with that conclusion tagged on the end for those holding evening session tickets.
And it did not stop there, with even players’ guests concerned about getting back in to see the end of the match, but some understanding from the retinues of those playing from 7pm to swiftly vacate their seats and allow others back in solved that mini-crisis.