At the start of this UK Championship Last 64 tie from the
end of 2014, both had early chances as they looked to settle into proceedings
and the key battle was on the final three reds which were mostly safe, with
Bond leading by 10. When Hawkins chance came but he missed the final red
leading by just 3. The scores were level after Nigel missed the yellow and a
careless safety on the green eventually cost him as Barry cleared for 1-0. The
first chance fell to Nigel in frame two but when he went into the pack from a
red, he looked like getting on the black until an unlucky kiss left him nowhere
on 31. Hawkins scoring juncture came after Nigel left a red over the corner,
but a break of 55 was not enough after he snookered himself in bringing the
last red off of the cushion, but when Bond missed a tough brown looking to
clear Barry potted brown and blue to double his lead at 2-0.
After an early chance and some frankly amateurish attempts
at getting out of snookers from his opponent, Nigel had a 36 point lead before
earning a second chance to kill the frame off, but he missed a tougher black
early on in the break to hand the opportunity over to Barry. A nicely compiled
break increased his control over the match at 3-0. Hawkins had the first chance
in the fourth but missed a difficult red on 22. When Barry won the long safety
duel it looked like he would put another frame on the board, but he nudged the
pink to the cushion in losing position on a colour and had to play safe with a
commanding 53 point lead with just 67 remaining. The frame started to turn
scrappy thereafter with colours going safe and both players potted reds without
a colour to see Hawkins lead by 49 with 51 on but eventually Hawkins potted a
red from mid-range to kill off the frame and take a very comfortable 4-0 lead
into the mid-session interval. The fifth frame started off quite scrappy before
the last of Bond’s in-offs left Hawkins a chance and he grabbed it with both hands.
He made a nice 48 to build a 63 point lead, and when his next chance came he
sealed the frame and probably started thinking about the Last 32 at 5-0 needing
just a single frame.
Both players had chances early in frame six, but when
Hawkins missed a red with the rest he was still 2 points behind. A good long
pot from Bond gave him an opening but it wouldn’t be easy with plenty of reds
close to cushions, and when he missed one of the final three reds along the
cushion a 22 point lead had been built with 51 remaining. Even though he sank
two of the final three reds, he couldn’t make much progress trailing Nigel by
16 with 35 left. When he saw off the final red his chance had come to clinch
the match and a whitewash but he missed an easy green with the colours all
there for the taking and Bond potted the balls he needed to extend the match at
1-5. Nigel also had the first chance of frame seven making 34 before losing
position. After some amateurish snooker escapes once again from Barry, Nigel
potted another couple of reds to go 52 in front with 75 remaining. Further poor
mistakes and safety errors ended up gifting Bond the chance he needed to pot a
couple of extra reds and make it 2-5.
Frame eight saw Bond get an early 24 before missing a tricky
red into the middle and that allowed Barry a chance of his own but he was
unlucky going into the pack on 11 to cover the red over the middle. Barry then
had a massive chance to win the match before missing a pretty easy shot on the
final red already leading by 18 with just 35 remaining. Bond’s opportunity came
up after a fantastic pot on the final red to get around for the blue to top
corner but the yellow would not go past the brown from the angle he left and he
had to play safe. When Hawkins left the yellow on however, it was an easy
clearance to the pink for Nigel to pull another back at 3-5 and now we were
questioning how much longer he could keep this up.
Hawkins was now beginning to look frail as he missed a
straight forward black early in frame nine having already lost three frames in
a row. Bond got the reds open early in his break but was left frustrated when
he missed a pretty easy red. Nigel was into his stride when he knocked in a
nice long pot and got in and around the black spot with reds nicely positioned.
He had found his form all of a sudden as a 116 clearance closed to within one
frame at 4-5 and the match was certainly back on. A very clever plant from
Nigel had him straight back in, in frame ten and when he had the reds nicely
spread by 44 he was looking to force a decider. A horrendous kick cut him short
though on 52 and allowed Hawkins to counter, but when he missed by human error
on 24, Bond had a reprieve. His additional 19 left Hawkins needing snookers
which he could not get and from 5-0 down Nigel Bond had won five frames in a
row to force an eleventh and deciding frame.
Hawkins looked visibly frustrated in the decider and cut the
figure of the man who knew he was beaten long before he actually was. (Even at
3-5 ahead his body language looked poor while Bond compiled a century
clearance). Bond was able to build an early 20 point lead after a couple of
reds and colours but after that it became fairly scrappy. The next good chance
also went to Bond and he added 16 before failing to obtain position on a colour
after playing a very thin cut. A missed long pot from Barry scattered a few
more reds and left one on for Nigel, and a good opportunity to clinch the match
at that. An additional 12 put him 47 in front with just 59 left and just a
couple of balls away from winning. Barry’s next safety was poor and he left a
red on at mid-range which Nigel calmly stunned in for the pink and that was
good enough to win the match after claiming all of the final six frames to do
so. What a remarkable tale of resilience from Nigel Bond, but also a complete
implosion from Barry Hawkins.
That was what I had for you today on Christmas Eve Eve as it's affectionately known. Come back tomorrow for another Christmas cracker in 9th place.
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