By Dan Warren BBC Sport at The Crucible

People will read the record books in years to come and think Ken Doherty's 13-8 quarter-final win over John Higgins was a pretty comfortable affair.

Ken Doherty could be on the verge of a career in journalism

They may not realise that the Irishman was a tortured soul during the match, and was losing sleep at the possibility of becoming the Crucible's biggest-ever choker.

Doherty revealed that after seeing his 10-0 lead eroded to 10-6 by Higgins, he had spent an uneasy night pondering the potential headlines.

"It would have been the biggest collapse since the Wall Street crash had I not won that game," he admitted.

"'Doherty collapses like a cheap tent' would have been another headline I'm sure.

"It was certainly twitchy bum time, as Sir Alex Ferguson might say.

"I couldn't sleep a wink after Tuesday night's session. At 10-0 I had a big smile on my face but when it was 10-6 a bear wouldn't have hugged me."

Might we suggest that Doherty's eye for the snappy pun ought to mean that - should things go pear-shaped snooker-wise - he could follow Scotland's Alan McManus into getting a bit of journalism work experience this summer (see day 10's diary).

Whoever wins power in the forthcoming Scottish Parliament elections will have an 'awfy braw' problem to tackle when they take office.

Namely, how to arrest the country's declining snooker fortunes.

Wins for Mark Williams and Ken Doherty over John Higgins and Stephen Hendry on Wednesday mean this is the first year since 1991 that no Scot has reached the last four in Sheffield.

The Embassy title has been contested by Scots on 11 of the last 12 occasions and, thanks to Hendry's dominance, eight of the past 13 championships have been taken home north of the border.

But not this year.

That is in stark contrast to Yorkshire, where expectation is growing that with Paul Hunter the host county could be celebrating its first home-grown winner since Joe Johnson in 1986.

The manner of Mark Williams' march to the semis has brought much praise from his fellow pros.

But one former, interesting, six-time champion, who shall remain nameless, was less than pleased to see him after the quarter-final win over Stephen Hendry on Wednesday morning.

This soul music-loving former winner was attempting to enjoy a few hands of poker via the internet when the enthusiastic Welshman bounded over.

"Let me have a go. Go on. Let me have a go. Just a couple of hands. Go on. Go on," implored the enthusiastic semi-finalist.

But the former champion, who is currently working as a pundit for the BBC and whom we shall call 'Nugget', was clearly on a winning streak and in no mood to be distracted.

Using terminology more often associated with the dockyard than the immaculate green baize of the Crucible, 'Nugget' informed Williams that he might possibly consider purchasing a one-way train ticket to Cardiff, because his knowledge of poker could be considered, ahem, less than total.