Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen leads 2012 Championship League Snooker Group 5 at Stock
Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen showed a convincing performance at the Crondon Park Golf Club in Stock, England, to clinch the leading spot in the 2012 Championship League Snooker Group 5 matches. The Northern Irish potter had a bit of mixed luck on the opening
day of the championship’s group matches, as he made a noticeable journey under icy playing conditions at the arena.
Allen played four matches on the opening day of the league according to the round-robin format of play. He played against Peter Ebdon, Mark Selby, Jamie Cope and Mark King before the conclusion of the day. A couple of Allen’s contests were quite tussling
and he had to come out strong to deal with the pressure exerted by his opponents.
During his first day run, the Pistol defeated the former World Snooker Champion Peter Ebdon, England’s Jamie Cope and World Number one Mark Selby by the score line of 3-1, 3-2 and 3-2 respectively. The only match he lost on the first day was against Mark
King, who nudged him 2-3 down.
Allen’s clash with Ebdon was a piece of cake for him as he cruised into the match win in no time. The former champ, Ebdon claimed the first scrappy frame by 15-71 after firing a couple of small breaks and led 0-1. Allen came back strong with three consecutive
frame wins of 103-7, 116-33 and 76-0, following some excellent clearances of 84, 83 and 75.
Allen’s next opponent was the Jester from Leicester, Selby. He grabbed the first frame by 36-85 firing a fine half-century knock of 53 but after that he tumbled two frames down at 2-1 as Allen took back-to-back frames by the score line of 106-17 and 132-0,
pocketing outstanding clearances of 85 and 116. Selby pulled level at 2-2 and dragged the match into a decider frame where Allen was victorious.
Allen’s third match finished in same fashion as the North Irishman clicked a quick lead of 2-0 before Cope came back and took the score to 2-2. Allen potted a nice 56-point knock to win the third match by the scores of 3-2.
After winning three matches in his group, Allen is currently on top with three points. He will have to continue his strong run on the second day to surge into the playoffs of the championship. He has two matches left against Ricky Walden and Barry Hawkins,
scheduled to be played on the second day.
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