So, let's take a trip down memory lane to a cold December evening at the York Barbican:
Mark Selby Vs Neil Robertson
The match started with a terrific long red from Mark Selby, but he came too far or the black, and was forced to play the snooker behind it. Neil Robertson knocked in a fairly straight forward long red to give him the first real chance to score, shortly afterwards. Robertson played a decent split of the reds which took the break to 26, but was incredibly unlucky not to be on one, forcing him to play safe. Selby knocked in a good long red after a scrappy safety battle, but missed a black cueing from the side cushion, leaving the Aussie with an opportunity to take the frame. Robertson took his chance, making a nice break of 65 to take the opening frame. A missed long red from Selby early in the second frame left Neil in after he got the double kiss on the red. Neil was forced to play safe again on 21 though, after a poor split from the blue. Robertson was next in with a well cued long red, before missing an easy red to the middle with a 29 point lead. This left Selby amongst the balls with a good chance to level the scores. A good recovery black on 25 kept his break going after trying to develop it. He overran position from the next red though, meaning he was unable to get on the black this time and had to play safe on 33. An easy long red soon got Robertson back in again though, with another decent opening to take the frame. Robertson missed an awkward last red though and had a 25 point, but he left Mark a chance to clear. After potting the green he had perfect position on the brown with the remaining colours on their spots. However, he came up short on the blue and took it to the corner instead, but he just missed, but Robertson missed a thin blue near the bottom rail, giving the advantage back to Mark with the blue over the corner. Selby potted the blue but couldn’t get on the pink, which brought the frame into an all-important safety battle. It was The Jester who lost the battle, leaving the pink on which was all Robertson needed to take a 2-0 lead, which was exactly what Neil did. The third frame started off slightly better for Mark, knocking in a brilliant long red to get onto the black, and give him a nice chance to score. Selby could only make 25 though as he went into reds from a red and failed to get on a colour. Robertson soon had his chance after a poor safety from Mark Selby who had looked below par in that department in the early stages, despite usually being so reliable. He missed a tricky red on 26 though, and had a 2 point advantage, leaving everything safe from his miss. Selby had his next proper chance after a missed black following a long red from Neil, and a great blue to the green pocket made it into a nice chance to get his first frame on the board. Selby only made 13 though as he couldn’t get on the next colour after a pot along the bottom rail, leaving Selby 10 ahead with 2 reds left. Selby was able to pot the last red after leaving the long red on, and a very good pot on the last red along the cushion left him with a golden chance to take the frame. However, only needing the yellow and green for the frame, he under hit the yellow for the green and had to play safe with a 21 point lead. 2 misses on the green though, cut Selby’s lead to 13 in the frame, leading to a very important safety battle in the context of the match. Selby then gave away 20 points in fouls after being snookered on the green, despite it being an easy 1 cushion escape. Neil Robertson had the next chance after Selby made a poor escape from another snooker, as he potted green, brown and blue and pink to take a lengthy third frame and lead 3-0. A missed long red from Mark at the start of the fourth frame was left for Neil, giving the former World and Masters champion a great opportunity to make a frame winning contribution. With the reds already open, Robertson picked them off well making a magnificent 105 break to take a 4-0 lead at the mid-session interval.
Things started a little better for Selby after the break, as
he knocked in a fabulous long red to get going, and he really needed to make
this count if he was going to have any chance of winning the match. However,
Selby never really looked comfortable and could only make 25 before running out
of position. He was soon back in with a nice long cut to the left corner,
getting him on the brown. Mark couldn’t keep the cue ball under control though
and the break ended on 5. A poor safety shortly after from Neil though left
Selby right in amongst the reds, with all of the balls there for Mark to get
his first frame on the board. A break of 58 helped him gain some rhythm and
closed the gap to 3 at 1-4. A cracking long red got Neil Robertson on the black
early in the sixth frame, with a great early opportunity to score, but a really
careless positional shot meant that the break came to a really premature end on
24. A crunching long red got Robertson back in with a golden opportunity to win
the frame, but a bad miss on the black handed that chance over to Mark Selby.
Selby could only make 32 though, and was still showing signs of a lack in
confidence. A missed pot from Neil left Selby another chance though, and a
great pot on the last red along the cushion, but having put everything into the
pot, he was very unfortunate not to have landed on a colour, so he had to play
safe with a 5 point advantage. Neil potted the yellow but snookered himself on
the green over the pocket, but he escaped from it and left the green safe, to
send the frame into an all-important battle on the remaining colours. After a
lengthy battle on the green, Robertson knocked in a decent long green from a
ball-in-hand situation. Robertson then potted the brown and brought the pink
off of the cushion and leaving himself a tricky, but still gettable shot on the
blue. Robertson missed the blue, and left it on for Mark who potted that and
the pink to grind out another frame and make it 2-4. An attempt to try and move
a red away from the pocket, that Selby was snookered on, went slightly wrong
early in the seventh frame as it left Neil with an easy chance to get in and
build an early lead. The break broke down on 28 though as Robertson had a kick,
leaving him a tricky black which he took on and missed, giving Selby another
chance as The Jester looked to continue his comeback. The misses continued to
come out though as Selby missed a red to the middle on 16 that was by no means
easy. The frame quickly turned into a scrappy affair after that, which sort of
showed the tone of the match to this point, with a lot of frames relying on long
periods of safety to sort them out. Robertson potted the next red but a miss on
the brown handed the half chance over to Selby, but with the reds all over the
place it was always going to be a tough clearance. Mark missed another red with
the cue ball on the cushion though, leaving him 2 points in front with 2 reds
left. When Robertson missed a long straight red to the green pocket and left it
over the pocket though, Selby had another golden chance to close the gap to
just a single frame. Once he’d potted the last red, all the colours were there
to confirm that it would be 3-4. At this point Neil Robertson fans knew that
their man was in trouble, with Mark Selby producing another classic comeback to
this point, but Neil had had plenty of chances and not been able to take them
so far. Early on in the eighth frame Neil had another early chance, potting a
nice red to the middle and getting on the black, and he would have known the
importance of making this one count. He couldn’t make it count again though, as
missed a red with the spider after going into the reds, gifting a golden
opportunity with the reds open for Selby to make a big contribution and level
the match. A magnificent century of 106 made sure that it would be 4-4, with
the match now becoming a best of 3 for a
place in the 2012 UK Championship semi-finals.
Mark Selby took his time in developing an early 47 point
lead in frame nine, after having a few early chances in the frame, showing also
that the momentum was firmly with him and not Neil who had not taken his
opportunities since the interval. Robertson had his chance soon after though
after a missed long thin cut from Selby, and a good black with the cue ball
close to the cushion improved his chances of cutting his 47 point deficit.
Robertson got to 32 when he was unlucky having tried to bring a red from the
cushion from the black. Robertson potted the penultimate red with the black,
before playing a good snooker on the final red. Selby left the red on after
getting out of the snooker and Robertson potted the red and the black to go 1
point ahead with the 6 colours remaining. Neil missed a tough cut on the
yellow, and left it on for Mark Selby, but The Jester from Leicester failed to
get nicely on the green and played the snooker behind the blue. A poor safety
from Neil on the green, left an easy pot for Mark, but he couldn’t pot the
brown which was next to the pink, playing the snooker instead. Robertson missed
it but wasn’t replaced as Selby played a better snooker. He missed that one as
well, as Selby potted the easy brown he was left with, and then the blue to put
him 22 ahead with 13 on. Robertson played on for snookers, but Selby potted the
pink with his next shot to complete the turnaround and now lead 5-4, only
needing 1 more frame for a place in the semi-finals. Neil Robertson missed a
reasonably straightforward red along the bottom rail early in the tenth frame
which gifted Mark Selby an early opening to take out the frame he needed to
win. He soon had the reds open and then all of the reds were there for him to
do just that. Once Selby had potted frame ball red, to leave Neil needing
snookers, Selby pulled out the fist pump and showed what this comeback meant to
him, and the grit and determination of the character he is. The black soon followed
which pretty much confirmed that that would be it, and Mark punched the table
in pure delight. A nice double kept the break going, as Selby finished the
match off with a top notch break of 101 sealing the match and a remarkable 6-4
victory for The Jester from Leicester, and if we didn’t already know how much
this meant he gave another fist pump to the crowd and one more to the camera as
he left the arena, having ground out a brilliant win, and completing a quite
amazing comeback, and one that really hurt Neil Robertson who had chances in
almost every frame after the break, but couldn’t make any of them count.
What a superb comeback that really was from the "master of brinkmanship" Mark Selby, as many players would've given up at that point, especially when they were playing as poorly as Mark did in the first half, but he is one of a select few guys who will never give up, and you can see how pumped up for it was with his celebrations at the end of the match. Such a comeback was it that it was deserving of classic status. Did you enjoy that? Then you'll be in for a treat as we enter the top 5 tomorrow, but who has earned the right to take 5th place? Well you'll just have to come back tomorrow and find out.
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