Corey Deuel's dream of competing as a professional on next season's World Snooker Tour has ended as the American lost 4-2 to Martin Ball in Event 2 of the 2014 World Snooker Q School at The Capital Venue in Gloucester, England.

In what was a much improved performance by the reigning United States National Snooker Champion compared to his defeat by Daniel Wells in Event 1, Deuel left himself too much to do when he fell 3-0 behind despite having had leads in both frames one and two.

However, in frame four he finally displayed at the Q School some of that scoring ability he has, as with breaks of 30 and 63 he sealed the frame and he completely shut out his English opponent for the second successive frame as he hit a break of 74 to trail 3-2.

Now on the comeback, he went into the sixth frame with a lot more confidence and he again had the early initiative only to allow it to slip, and Ball scored sparingly to capture the frame and match.

Although Deuel would have hoped to have achieved better results in this year's World Snooker Q School, it is a continuation of his snooker education and he should be congratulated for his endeavors in facing up to the challenge. His biggest problem at the moment is not having access to a Star championship table, which is the brand used for all the events played on the World Snooker Tour.

Deuel commented later on Facebook: "I do feel I'm playing better ...learned a lot. Just wish I could get a table in Florida, these Star tables play nice."

Unfortunately Deuel will not be in Brooklyn at the end of this week to defend his United States National Snooker Championship title, as he is required to compete in some pool events.