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Photos: Jack Bradshaw
York came from 2-0 down to snatch a sensational 3-2 victory at Fulford Conservative Club in the first ever Roses snooker match.
After York’s top two seeds, Kane “Does He Need ‘Em?” Needham and Lucas “The Clam” Bingham lost their matches, it seemed almost certain Lancaster would wrap up an easy victory.
But in a remarkable turn of events, York’s bottom three seeds produced the goods. Ben “Tweakachu” Kyriakou, Matt “The Motion” Brown and Mark “The Power” Taylor all won their ties as York claimed four key points on a critical Saturday afternoon.
The obscure venue did not attract the sizeable crowds seen at the pool and darts later in the evening, and indeed, one could hear the proverbial pin drop for much of the contest.
Each match comprised the best of three frames and it was a very edgy start by the home side, who could not find any rhythm or high breaks in the early stages.
Needham surrendered the first frame to Matt Caunce before Bingham lost a very tight frame against Mike Logan on the colours. Lancaster’s Sam Yip also beat Kyriakou after eventually potting brown, blue and pink.
The scores were locked even between Needham and Caunce in frame two, but the Lancastrian won the frame on the pink. Meanwhile, on table two Logan was impressive, knocking in several long reds and eventually forced Bingham to concede fairly early. The Red Rose went 2-0 up.
Crucially, Kyriakou kept his nerve and played gutsy snooker to level the scores at 1-1 against Yip. Few breaks above 20 were ever made, but the York man didn’t care one bit.
By this time, Brown and Taylor got their matches underway. Despite potting the white off the break in the first frame, Lancaster’s Danny Lowe played maturely to defeat Taylor and once again put York on the brink of defeat.
However, Kyriakou secured a 2-1 triumph in his match to cut Lancaster’s overall lead in half. The news appeared to boost the confidence of Brown and Taylor who went for more shots.
Brown took the first frame against his sluggish opponent, Jamie Lee, before losing the second on a dramatic black. Taylor, to the relief of the White Rose, won the scrappiest of frames after Lowe gifted him the blue.
Taylor upped his game significantly in the decider, constructing a useful break of 19 to dent his opponent’s confidence. Needing a lot of snookers to have any chance, Lowe called it a day and Taylor’s 51-4 win brought the overall scores level at 2-2.
The situation had turned decisively. Brown found his long potting game which had deserted him in frame two, and sure enough, he powered his way to victory.
It was an unthinkable comeback, but one which contributed to York’s overall dominance on Saturday afternoon.
Afterwards, York captain Kane Needham told Vision: “I’m absolutely chuffed. We went 2-0 down but Lancaster went top-heavy in their order, and our players beat their worse players – it’s a great result.”