Division 1 Cup: Stadium 4-3 Arnold CD 'A' (09/02/10)

[Steve Butler]

Stadium Leisure's pairing of Barry Stark and Ross Wilkin held their nerve tremendously well, coming back from 44 points down to win the deciding frame against Arnold Civil Defence A on a re-spotted black.  Stadium got off to a poor start in the away leg at Arnold as Steve Butler scored just 7 points against Tony Hart.  A 32 break from Hart was enough to force a concession from Butler.  Daniel Di Folco found himself needing two snookers against Chris Winter, the Arnold player doing the damage with a 39 break.  Di Folco, to his credit, got both snookers but an excellent pot on the blue from Winter sealed the frame for Arnold to put them 2-0 up.  Thankfully for Stadium the ever reliable Bob Walker defeated John Fountain in style, securing the all important frame away from home.

Back at Stadium, Barry Stark hit an excellent 49 break in his frame against Richard Tooley.  Stark needed to score heavily though as he was giving away 35 points start to the Arnold player.  Stark eventually won a close frame 76-61 to level the match at 2-2.  The in-form Matt Hearson-Ellis struggled against Gary Spencer who is another player in-form.  Spencer fired in breaks of 57 and 19 to run out an easy winner and put his Arnold side within one frame of victory.  Pete Gormley, who had not had any practise prior to the match, dug in deep to win a tough battle against Brian Kinton.  Gormley potted a superb long pink to level the match at 3-3 and force the decider.

In the deciding frame the Arnold pair of Spencer and Kinton raced into a 44 point lead against Stark and Ross Wilkin.  Wilkin must have really been feeling the pressure, having not played a singles frame and then being thrown into a tense deciding frame in front of a large crowd.  Neither pair was giving much away but Kinton left Stark a half chance from which he profited with an excellent 27 break to haul the Stadium pair back into the frame.  As the frame edged toward its dramatic climax the tension grew.  Wilkin potted a fantastic blue under pressure and this was followed by an equally good pot on the pink but unluckily he went in-off.  This left Arnold 13 points ahead with 13 remaining but it was Stark who had the first decent chance at the pink.  Not only did he pot the pink but he followed it up with a terrific black to force the re-spot.

The players did their best to keep the black safe but Stark again had a tricky long shot at the black into the corner pocket.  Few players could have held their nerve in this tense atmosphere but Stark was superb as he slammed in the long black to win the frame and match for Stadium Leisure.  It was a fabulous end to a great match and if the other divisional cup matches are half as good as this one then this new format will prove very popular.

Arnold 'A' 2-1 Stadium
Chris Winter -7 (39 break)   91-62   Daniel Di Folco +14
John Fountain +7   19-70   Bob Walker +14
Tony Hart Scr (32 break)   82-21   Steve Butler +14

Stadium 3-1 Arnold 'A'
Barry Stark -7 (49 break)   76-61   Richard Tooley +28
Matt Hearson-Ellis +14   26-76   Gary Spencer Scr (57 break)
Pete Gormley +28   69-52   Brian Kinton +21
Stark/Ross Wilkin -7   71-64   Kinton/Spencer Scr    
(Re-spotted black!)

[Robert Wright]

Terrific win Steve for your team. Pleased to see Mr Walker in the same frame of mind as he was on Monday. A re-spotted black to decide it. You don't get any closer than that.  :welldone:

[Kwok Yip]

Wow!!! The "Ice Stadium" Slip over yet another Quality team!!!

I'm very Impressed Steve

Unlucky Arnold "Quality Breaks!"

A great result for team Stadium!!!

[Mike Langdon]

great report Steve....sounded like a quality match  :bravo:

I hope Barry doesn't play that well in our pairs match on Tuesday!!!

[ellism2]

Cracking result! When i left Pete was finding it tough going in his frame and things were looking bad!

I think the winner was the new format though - even if it confused Pete!

[Wayne Martin]

LOL - Mike - was that going to be a surprise!!!!!  :blush:

[Mike Langdon]

yeah that was my plan...didn't want to give you time to over think it  

Sorry mate...you can make it i hope?  :blush:

[Wayne Martin]

Its fine mate -looking forward to it - table 2?

[Mike Langdon]

yep table 2 did us fine last time so we're go for that again.