It’s all about the results, and not how you get over the line, according to Stephen Maguire.

The Scot was the first to admit his 6-3 third-round victory over Ali Carter was far from a classic, but added the quality of the play is not the most important factor in tournament play.

Maguire is a former world number two and has five titles in his career so far. His best Barbican run was his victory in York in 2004 – and he reached the semi-final as recently as last year.

He faces reigning world champion Mark Williams for a place in the last eight and believes he must up his game if he is to stand a chance against the Welshman.

“It was tough out there [against Carter],” Maguire said. “The cloth was completely different to the first couple of matches, so me and Ali were over-screwing everything and our positional play was embarrassing.

“Some of the shots we were playing were quite poor, but I’ll take it.

“It’s about getting through and I can always improve in the next match, but I do have to improve.”

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