Tom Ford jokingly offered the referee his cue after the cue ball ran out of position during his UK Snooker Championship semi-final defeat by Ding Junhui.
Ford was facing a whitewash defeat against Ding losing the first five frames. Despite potting a yellow in the sixth frame he was unimpressed by the position of the white offering referee Eckardt his cue causing the crowd to laugh and referee to smirk.
The Englishman, searching for a first UK Championship final place, then staged an unlikely fightback winning the sixth frame and then the following two to pull himself back to 5-3.
Chinese star Ding, who recorded a whitewash against Ronnie O'Sullivan in the quarter-final, held his nerve winning the ninth frame to book his final place with a 6-3 win. After reaching the semi-final Ford spoke about work he has been doing with a psychologist.
"It helps if I do miss one I'm thinking about that (psychology work) instead of beating myself up," he told the BBC.
"Everybody knows that I'm the world's worst, if I miss a ball my head is rolling around in the car park. I start to miss a few and start winding myself up more. I'm not trying to put my opponent off but I start to wind myself up and play terribly."
Ding said that a lapse in concentration allowed opponent Ford back into the game with the Englishman then taking advantage.
"I missed a great chance to win 6-0, I picked the wrong coloured ball and he started to play more relaxed," added Ding.
"He got back into his rhythm and was enjoying it more than me. I just took my eye off it a little bit and lost a bit of concentration. I just need to keep my eye on every chance I can do. It didn't happen well and I made a few mistakes on safety shots, he went for everything and didn't miss anything in the last few frames."
Ding first won the UK Championship as a youngster in 2005 which propelled him to stardom beating Steve Davies in the final. He also won the crown in 2009 and three years ago. The Chinese player will meet Mark Allen in Sunday's final with the winner scooping £250,000.
"I like to play here since the first time I beat Steve Davies in 2005," added Ding. "I love this venue, it's the best venue I like. Sometimes I play very good and can keep it up all week. Other times I play no good and get beat in the first round.
"The quality has always been there, when I was young I played more aggressive and maybe I didn't think too much but cleared the mind. Now I just think too much sometimes."
