Gary Milne wins thrilling Yorkshire Snooker Final.
Filey’s Gary Milne defeated Malcolm Bilclough of Leeds 4-3 in this year’s Yorkshire Snooker Final.
Milne was first to settle, a run of 29 helping him to a first frame win 77-26, and he made it 2-0 with breaks of 33 and 28 (67-39) against an out of sorts Bilclough.
The Filey man had first chance in the third frame but a missed red into the centre pocket which gave Bilclough a much needed reprieve and he stepped up to make a magnificent 109 break to finally get himself into the match at 2-1 down (6-109). A small contribution of 24 helped him take the fourth frame (6-58) and at the interval it was anybody’s match at 2-2.
The first frame after the break was scrappy, Milne getting the better of the safety exchanges to win it 51-7 and put himself back into the lead at 3-2. In the sixth frame it was Bilclough again who starred, a 71 break (0-71) making it 3-3 and setting things up nicely for a fascinating final frame.
Bilclough raced into a 21-point lead before Milne put together a run of 32 and he looked to be in control of the frame before inexplicably missing a straightforward black off its spot. In stepped Bilclough with a reply of 39 to put himself 28 in front with just one red remaining.
A four-point foul reduced the arrears to 60-36 and then another foul made it 60-40 but crucially this time Bilclough had left his opponent a free ball. Milne took blue as the free ball followed by blue, red, blue, yellow, green, and brown but fell just slightly the wrong side of blue which was on its spot. He rolled in the blue to give himself a six-point lead but left a mid-range pink off its spot for frame and match which under the circumstances was eminently missable. Unperturbed, Milne held his nerve and slammed in the pink to take the frame and match 4-3 much to the delight of his supporters.
Congratulations to both players on an excellent final. The match was played in great spirit in front of a healthy crowd in the excellent NSC match arena.
Many thanks to referee Natalia Gradinari, marker Andy Kitson and to Assistant Manager Callum Newham and all the staff at the NSC.
Pictures courtesy of Paul Marlow & Richard Bakes
