Mark Davis has vowed to knuckle down to hours of practice to improve his safety play after going out of the British Open against John Higgins yesterday.

The 31-year-old from St Leonards went into the third round clash with the world No. 4 at the Brighton Centre as underdog but believes he could have caused an upset but for a couple of loose shots.

Davis proved he could live with the top players by beating Alan McManus in the second round but knows he must now tighten up his defence to take his game to the next level.

The world No. 35 said: "My safety play cost me the match because against players like John you cannot afford to make any mistakes or they punish you. When I am in the balls I feel I am scoring quite well but I let myself down with a couple of loose safety shots so I will have to work hard on cutting them out."

A confident Higgins raced into a 3-0 lead but Davis battled back to win the next two frames and had chances to level at 3-3 before going down 5-2.

Despite the defeat Davis will travel to the UK Championships in York next week, where he is scheduled to take on Dave Harold in the first round on Tuesday, with renewed confidence after his showing in Brighton.

"I have played pretty well throughout the tournament and I can't be too disappointed about losing to John," said Davis.