Right on Cue
Three-time Yorkshire champion Wayne Cooper was unusually out of sorts as luck deserted him in his bid to win a fourth county title at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds.
Cooper faced in-form David Grace in the final, with the pair showing mutual respect for each other during a safety-first opening to the match.
Neither could find any early rhythm and there were several missed opportunities, perhaps a sign of nerves from two experienced campaigners who were both keen to gain a good start.
Grace eventually found some consistency and made a frame-winning break of 63 in taking the opening frame 91-19.
This soon became 2-0 as a faultless 123 clearance highlighted why the Leeds-based player is benefiting from a successful season in which he has recently rejoined snooker’s main tour after falling off in 2009.
The third frame became scrappy early on and a re-rack of the balls was agreed.
Cooper looked to have done enough to win the frame, making a break of 28 which set up a 55-30 lead with only one red remaining.
But an uncharacteristic easy miss from Bradford’s most decorated amateur player allowed Grace a surprise opportunity and he made no mistake, clearing with a break of 31 to win 61-55 and earn a 3-0 lead at the interval.
When the match resumed, Grace continued where he had left off and made a 41 break, only for Cooper to fight back and trail by only 20 points with one red remaining.
Luck had deserted Cooper most of the night but there was no denying Grace has a top safety game and he laid a few impeccable snookers which Cooper could not get out of and the Leeds player held on to win 4-0 with a 76-31 fourth-frame victory.
Grace was obviously delighted with his success and is now looking forward to returning to snooker’s elite, which gets underway next week with the first PLAYERS’ TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP event of the year taking place in Sheffield.
Bradford professional Simon Bedford is in action against Ryan Day in the first round but the pick of the ties sees former Bradford-based ex-world No 3 James Wattana playing snooker legend Steve Davis in a repeat of the 1994 Thailand Open final.
* Bradford’s prestigious MOORHOUSE SHIELD billiards team final takes place next Thursday at Great Horton Conservative Club (7.45pm). The opponents will be decided by tonight’s semi-final second-leg matches.
* A reminder to all players in the CONSERVATIVE GAMES LEAGUE that the presentation night takes place next Tuesday at Owlett Hall Social Club.
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