Mark Allen and Gerard Greene beat John Higgins and Stephen Maguire in quarters: 2011 World Cup Snooker
In what can probably rendered as an upset by many, Mark Allen and Gerard Greene from the Northern Ireland team surged into semi-finals of the 2011 World Cup Snooker, defeating title favourites John Higgins and Stephen Maguire of Scotland. Allen and Greene
took the Scotsmen down in a decider frame and won the match 4-3, at Bangkok Convention Centre on Saturday, July 16.
The encounter between Scotland and Northern Ireland was a thriller, as both the teams tussled until the last frame, trying to unsettle each other. However, it was Mark Allen who took all of his individual frames to lead his team into the semi-final stage.
Greene lost to Higgins in one of his single frames, while the Irishmen crashed out of both the doubles frames.
Defeating the world snooker champion’s team was something worth celebration for Northern Ireland and they were quite happy to get past the tournament favourites after a tough fight. The Pistol, Allen, was more than just happy to have defeated a strong team
like Scotland. Northern Ireland will next meet Hong Kong in the semi-finals on Sunday, July 17.
Allen spoke to the reports after the victory, "Scotland were the tournament favourites and we put pressure on them as a team and we deserved to win. We probably should've won 4-2 and to beat two players like this is a good achievement. It was good to put
a show on for the watching fans and the match was played in good spirits."
Gerard Greene added on the other hand, "John Higgins and Stephen Maguire are great players and they've both won many tournaments but in one-frame matches you've always got a chance."
Allen beat John Higgins in a sudden death match to steal the victory away from Scotland. The Allen-Greene team has been outstanding throughout the tournament as they stayed unbeaten in their group before they lost their last group match against England.
However, they still managed to make it to the quarters against Scotland and now they have stormed into the semi-final against Hong Kong. Marco Fu and Fung Kwok Wai will also be looking forward for a stunning match against the Northern Ireland pair.
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