So this was what happened on a very cold afternoon at the Ally Pally:
Neil Robertson Vs Mark Allen
Mark Allen was first in, in this Masters quarter-final with a decent pot to the middle to get going, and he had to make some good early recovery shots to keep going but eventually missed an easier red on the stretch on 20. Robertson potted a decent red down the cushion to give him his first chance of the match, and he levelled the score in the frame with a fantastic split of the pack from the blue making it a good chance to take the opening frame. He made a good break of 66, putting him 46 ahead with 51 on but he missed a mid-range red after a poor positional shot. Allen made a good long pot, but missed the pink leaving in a position of needing snookers so Mark conceded the frame to Neil Robertson a 1-0 lead. Mark was in first in the second with a good cut back to the left corner, and with a few reds already in the open it was a decent opening for the Northern Irishman to score. He made a good break of 38 before being very unlucky with his split of the reds for the green. A careless safety from Neil left Allen in with a fantastic opening to clinch the frame, with a good lead already under his belt. A further 49 levelled the match up at 1-1. A careless in-off from Robertson left Allen a chance at a long pot, which he played to perfection, getting on the black nicely from it. He broke down on 9 though after a he missed a black which was made tough by the speed he played it at. The Aussie then spotted a plant which he played beautifully to get onto the black. A good rest shot took his break to 9 before he went on to 16 by going into the reds from the black, and opening them well. However, the cue ball ran away from him leaving him a long pot to continue, but he played it well and was soon back into good position, with a golden chance to now take the 2-1 lead. A quite brilliant 73 with some of the shots that Robertson played to keep it going, gave him the advantage again at 2-1. Mark knocked in a great long red to get going again in the fourth frame, and he was soon into the reds, with a decent split to give him a golden chance so early on in the break to level the scores once more. He made the rest look easy, as he waded in with a cracking century break of 138, which turned out to be the highest break of The Masters.
Mark Allen was first in after the mid-session break with a
very thin cut to the middle, which got him nicely on the blue, from which he
split the reds up to craft an early scoring opportunity. A great green, and
then an even better red to follow kept the break going and with the reds now
all there for the taking he had a golden chance to go ahead for the first time.
A break of 72 established a 3-2 advantage for Allen and kept this amazing
standard going. Neil Robertson knocked in a cracking long red to give himself
an early chance but he could only make 3 as he missed a fairly easy red, which
he left for The Pistol to get in and firing again. Allen made 20 before he had
to play safe after an unlucky split of the reds. Neil then knocked in a good
long red to get in, and with the reds well split, he had a golden chance that
he really had to take to win the frame and square the match. This crazy
standard continued as Robertson popped up with a century of his own this time,
equalising at 3-3 with a run of 111. Neil had the first chance of the seventh
frame as Allen missed a long pot leaving Robertson down at the scoring end of
the table. Mark was in next with a fluked red from his safety shot getting him
going and a brilliant long red kept him early on, but he missed the black on
2o, bring the break to a premature end. Robertson was in next with the reds
nicely spread, but he played a poor positional shot on 24, bringing the break
to another early end, but he did play a brilliant snooker behind the brown.
Allen missed it and left the red along the cushion for Robertson and with the
reds well placed he had to take it after the chances he’d already had. He broke
down on 9 this time, but was gifted the red he needed for the frame by Allen
who missed a tricky shot to the middle himself, but Robertson missed another
blue to leave Allen needing one snooker to be able to tie the frame. He potted
the red by mistake though and couldn’t double the black in, so he conceded to
give Neil a 4-3 lead. Mark was in first in the next frame with a good cut back
red, and then a brilliant blue to the top left corner to keep the break going,
and get in a good position to get a nice early lead. Once Allen had split the
reds open and reached 41 though it was looking like a good frame winning chance
for the Northern Irishman to level the game yet again. Allen made a good break
of 68, but missed a red to the green pocket with Neil Robertson only needing 1
snooker, but he played an absolute howler on the last red and conceded for
Allen to level the game at 4-4, now a best-of-3 for a place in the semi-finals.
Neil Robertson had the first proper chance of the ninth
frame with a good shot on an easy long red to get perfectly on the black. He
picked off the loose reds before going into the bunch well, and then he played
a good plant to get back into prime position, with a golden opportunity to move
ahead once again. He took the chance superbly making a brilliant a 101 to go
5-4 up and a single frame from victory. Neil was first in again in the tenth
frame with a good long red, but he missed a tough pink to the middle and left
Allen in with the reds already reasonably nicely spread to try and force the
decider. A nice cannon into the pack took him to 40 with the reds all nicely
situated for Mark. He missed an easy pot to the middle on 60 though and Neil
Robertson now had a fantastic chance to win the match. Neil closed to within 21
points of Allen, but couldn’t nudge the last red out and had to play safe.
After a couple of missed attempts to get out of a snooker, Neil then left the
last red on for Mark which he potted with the blue to leave Robbo needing two
snookers on the colours. Allen potted the yellow, but Robertson kept going
fluking the green in before he left the brown on for Mark to finally make it
5-5.
Neil Robertson was in massive trouble early on in the
decider as he found himself snookered behind the yellow with a red over the
corner pocket if he got the escape wrong. However, Neil played a brilliant
escape to pot that red over the corner and get onto the black in one of the
best shots you may ever see. This all gave the Aussie a great early opening to
try and win the match and with the reds well spread after potting the first
black, it was probably the best chance he could have asked for at this stage of
the match. A good recovery red put him onto 30 and once he was back in great
position 2 pots later the writing looked like it was already on the wall for
Mark Allen. A fantastic break from 105 that won it for Neil in the end, and for
Allen to lose like that was unbelievable really and truly undeserving of such a
brilliant performance that Mark had put in there as well, and with the standard
the 2 players had put on in this match, it really was worthy of making my
classic matches of 2013 shortlist.
What an unbelievable contest that was between 2 guys that could've easily gone on and won the tournament, and it really was a shame that there had to be a loser, despite how much of a massive cliché that is. That match kept up an excellent standard throughout, and you can be sure that the last 2 matches in the countdown will do exactly the same. The big question now is: Who has just not done enough, and taken the runners-up position? Come back tomorrow to find out.
No comments:
Post a Comment