Bradford potter Simon Bedford admits he is paying the price for having to focus on his full-time job after he crashed out in the first round of the UK Snooker Championship tonight.

Bedford was the only man to beat Ronnie O’Sullivan last year – though admittedly there was not a lot of competition as his opponent took a near year-long sabbatical before returning to retain his Crucible crown.

But the 37-year-old is down at 89 in the world rankings this season and has only competed in seven tournaments so far, winning six matches in all.

And, after a near two-month break from the game, he struggled to get going against Jamie Burnett in the first round at the Barbican in York.

Burnett led 4-0 and 5-1 before Bedford finally found some form but the left-hander left it too late and eventually ended up a 6-4 loser.

“The first four frames I just did not perform and that has cost me the match,” he said.

“I played well in the end but by then I had just left myself far too much to do.

“It was a bit of ring rust – I have not played for a bit, two or three months – so it was that which cost me.

“I can’t afford to play in every tournament so I have been working and trying to pay for tournaments as I go.

“I played better than him in the end but when you are playing good players you need to start off well or it will cost you.”

Bedford works for Quickslide Windows in West Yorkshire and his full-time employment means that he struggles to spend any time on the practice table.

The amount of tournaments he can enter is also severely hampered and Bedford admits that he is only thinking about the World Championship for the rest of the 2013-14 campaign.

After that he is not sure if we will continue playing the game that he loves.

He added: “It’s probably just the World Championship for me now and then I will have a big think about what I want to do next year.

“It’s too hard to work full-time and then come to snooker and compete. But that is a decision for next year.”

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