Malta’s Tony Drago was eliminated from the Blackpool World Snooker Shootout on Saturday night after losing his second round match against Dave Harold 51-32.

According to the official World Snooker website, Drago was given a rousing welcome by the crowd, having been considered favourite to win the match against Harold.

It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in competition in over 20 years of competitive snooker.

This is how World Snooker described the match:

Harold relishing his role as the villian of the piece. A long red set him up for a break of 34, which gave him a 43-13 lead. Speedy Drago had another chance with around 90 seconds left, and pulled off several great pots, but just caught the knuckle of a middle pocket when trying to gain position on the last three reds. He missed a difficult plant, at 32-43, and Harold was able to wrap it up.

Earlier, on Friday, Drago produced a very good performance to beat Andy Hicks 97-0 in the first round match.

And this is how World Snooker described that match:

Lovely stuff from Malta's favourite snooker son. Breaks of 32 and 65 give Drago the frame in just over 5 minutes. He could have even made a century but just missed the last red along a side cushion. "If you asked me if I can win the World Championship, I'd say no, you must be kidding. But if you asked me if I can win this one, I'd say yes," he said.

Of course he then went on to lose the second round match.