Martin Gould was determined to stick to his attacking instincts against four-time Crucible winner John Higgins but he still fell to a 10-6 defeat at the Betfred World Championships in Sheffield.  

Trailing 7-2 after the first session yesterday, the Pinner potter had little choice but to attack as he attempted to repeat the comeback by Marco Fu who won 10-9 from the same position yesterday.  

And when the 35-year-old smashed a century in the opening frame of Tuesday's morning session there was cause for optimism and he was soon back to 7-4.  

But Higgins replied with a ton of his own to move within two frames of victory which he eventually clinched despite Gould breaks of 86 and 80.  

And Gould, who came through qualifying to reach this stage, felt he was unlucky to be so far behind after Monday's afternoon session when the balls just wouldn't roll in his favour.  

"My gameplan is always the same, to go out and attack, most of it is attacking from me, that’s how I like to play the game, some days it will work and some days it won't," conceded Gould.  

"I don't think 7-2 was really a fair scoreline after the first session but that's the nature of the game, sometimes it's cruel, other times it can work for you.  

"Watching Marco Fu last night proved (the deficit) wasn't too much, it was just one of those first sessions where I could have been 5-0 up but I got some bad contacts.  

"Bad contacts can change a match very quickly. Sometimes they go for you sometimes they don’t and yesterday it didn't go for me. 

"I was a bit disappointed with a few things in the first session but other than that I can't really complain about the way I played. I have a lot of positives to look forward to using when the new season starts." 

Higgins will play Mark Allen in the second round after the Antrim cueman beat Jimmy Robertson 10-8 on Tuesday night. 

Watch the Snooker World Championship Live on Eurosport and Eurosport Player, with Colin Murray and analysis from Jimmy White and Neal Foulds