UFFCULME snooker star Sam Baird may have avoided a bit of unwanted snooker history in his first round defeat to Stuart Bingham, but that was little consolation to the 24-year-old.
Baird qualified for the main draw up in Sheffield but in the first round found Bingham, the world No.8, too hot to handle in a 10-2 defeat.
In Wednesday's first session Baird trailed Bingham 6-0 at one point and the possibility of only the second-ever Crucible whitewash was on the cards.
But Baird saved face and grabbed the seventh frame to keep himself off that exclusive list with Eddie Charlton, who lost 10-0 to John Parrott back in 1992.
Wednesday's first session finished 8-1 and Bingham then won two of the first three frames on Thursday night to book a date in the last 16 and leave Baird wishing he had done more on his Crucible debut.
"I just wanted to try and go out there and enjoy it tonight, hopefully get a few frames and then you never know," he said.
"But it was uphill for me after I lost the first one out there, then I was just trying to prolong it as much as possible.
"There were a lot of nerves, maybe not as many as I feared there would be, but still walking out there was pretty nerve-wracking.
"It's disappointing that I could not turn in a better performance because this is a great place to play.
"It's not like any other place to play in, the atmosphere is great and the people are so close to you, there's not that much room around the table.
"I think he started to a miss a few after I got a frame and I could have nicked a few more
"But I was so glad to get a frame on the board, I feared a 10-0 by that stage so that was a little ray of light."
Baird has less than a month off now until the new season starts with a vengeance and the 24-year-old, who is ranked down at 83 in the world, admits he is already itching to get back on snooker's biggest stage.
"I would like another go at that match, it was pretty tough for and I would like to do it again.
So it's up to me to make sure I get back here one day," he added.
"I will head home now, I'm not sure if I will even watch the snooker on the TV for a few days after that but we'll have to wait and see."
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