Tillison wins after year out

IT WAS a fairytale return to snooker for a teenager from Portsmouth who had fallen out of love with the game.

Ben Tillison (pictured) recorded his first tournament win on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Bronze Tour in his first event after a year’s break from the junior circuit.

The clock on the wall at Salisbury Snooker Club showed 8.50pm as the 15-year-old left-hander stroked in a long, straight brown to leave his “very tough” Southampton-based opponent Ben Hatch needing snookers in the third and deciding frame of the final.

“I’m so happy,” Tillison said: “I didn’t actually think it would happen. But when I got to the semis, I though it’s going to actually happen.”

Reflecting on his season out, he added: “I wasn’t enjoying it and then just got back into it six months ago.”

It was also a major achievement for Hatch as the 19-year-old had never been past the quarter-finals in his previous 18 events since making his Bronze Tour debut in December, 2009.

Rio Smith (Copnor SC, Portsmouth), Ozzy Rea (Greenbaize, Bournemouth) and Oli Line (Chandler’s Ford SC) qualified for the knockout for the first time. In fact, Smith progressed to the semi-finals where he went down 2-1 to clubmate Tillison. Riley Ellis (Jesters, Swindon) made the quarter-finals on his debut.

The second leg of eight is at Jesters Snooker Club, Swindon, on Sunday, November 1.

BREAKS

Shane Kearns: 24.
Ben Crump: 22.

BRONZE RESULTS

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Riley Ellis (Jesters, Swindon); 2nd, Oli Line (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, Jack Ratcliffe (Jesters, Swindon); 4th, Lewis Wilson (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 5th, Connor Shaw (Greenbaize, Bournemouth).

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Rio Smith (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 2nd, Ben Hatch (Southampton); 3rd, Ben Crump (Stoke SC, Gosport); 4th, Ryan Hughes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 5th, Ryan Compton (Copnor SC, Portsmouth).

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Bowen Zhu (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Ozzy Rea (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 3rd, Chloe White (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 4th, Shane Kearns (Jesters, Swindon); 5th, Luke McCormick (Mayfair, Gosport).

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP D: 1st, Callum White (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 2nd, Ben Tillison (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 3rd, Arnie Petty (Salisbury SC); 4th, Harry Wilson (Copnor SC, Portsmouth).

QUARTER-FINALS (12 points): Tillison 2 Ellis 0, Smith 2 Rea 1, Hatch 2 Zhu 1, Callum White 2 Line 1.

SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Tillison 2 Smith 1, Hatch 2 Callum White 0.

FINAL (25/18 points): Tillison 2 Hatch 1.

Report and picture by Tim Dunkley