Third time lucky for Welsh wizard

Following two semi-final appearances last season, Lloyd won a one-frame shoot-out to clinch the 2012/13 second leg final at the Crucible Sports & Social Club in Newbury.

But the 17-year-old, who is based at Rileys, Newport, was forced to work hard to qualify from the round-robin group stages.

“I went 1-0 down in three of my group matches and still managed to win,” he said. “I played pretty solid all day and had a few breaks.”

After seeing off David Shaw (Caversham WMC, near Reading) 2-0 in the last-eight, Lloyd beat Daniel Woods (Chandler\’s Ford SC) 3-1 to reach his first Championship Tour final.

The Welsh international admitted he and Woods “stole” a frame off each other to make it 1-1.

And he smacked in a frame-winning break to deny Bulgaria-bound Billy Castle (Cue T’s, Marchwood) the perfect send off.

Lloyd said: “I knew I was playing okay at that stage and had one chance and I made 76, missing a yellow.”

The finalists had already agreed to split the £150 prize pot.

Lloyd is the current Cuestars Under-21 Gold Champion but he was beaten in the Championship Tour final in May by Jon Charlton (Aldwick RBL, Bognor Regis). The pair met in the group stages in Newbury. And Lloyd won.

Meanwhile, Castle (pictured above), who flies to Bulgaria this week for the IBSF World Championships, sailed through five group matches without dropping a frame and defeated Cuestars debutante Daniel Blunn (The Ballroom, Sutton Coldfield) 2-0 in the quarter-finals.

The 20-year-old England international DID lose a frame in the last-four against his Churchills A teammate Mike Finn. But breaks of 77 and 105, the only century of the day, helped seal a 3-1 victory.

Castle said: “I’m warming up for Bulgaria nicely. It’s a good bit of confidence for it. I’m just going to go over there and play my best and hopefully bring the trophy back.”

A 24-strong field, the same as at the first leg in Swindon last month, returned 24 half-century breaks, nine more than in Swindon.

The third leg of six is at Salisbury Snooker Club on Sunday, January 13.

Billy Castle: 105, 77, 68, 63, 58, 58, 53, 50.

Mike Finn: 76, 61, 53, 52.

Callum Lloyd: 76, 74, 71, 65.

Adam King: 58, 55, 51, 51.

Mike Lloyd: 57.

Adam Nash: 56.

Lewis Miles: 55.

Dominic Holmes: 50.

GROUP A: 1st, Adam King (New Arches SC, Coventry); 2nd, Daniel Blunn (The Ballroom, Sutton Coldfield); 3rd, David Beakhouse (Reading); 4th, Andrew Seymour (Crucible, Newbury); 5th, Cameron Holt (Liberal Club, High Wycombe); 6th, Wasim Khan (Liberal Club, High Wycombe).

GROUP B: 1st, Callum Lloyd (Rileys, Newport, Wales); 2nd, Kennedy Brown (Swindon SC); 3rd, Lewis Miles (Jesters, Swindon); 4th, Jon Charlton (Aldwick RBL, Bognor Regis); 5th, Keith Beauchamp (Woking SC); 6th, Martin Wallace (Colours, Reading).

GROUP C: 1st, Mike Finn (Churchills, Eastleigh); 2nd, David Shaw (Caversham WMC); 3rd, Adam Nash (Churchills, Eastleigh); 4th, Dominic Holmes (Sovereign SC, Farnborough); 5th, Trevor Thorn (Basingstoke Cons); 6th, Dean Matthews (Ivy Leaf Club, Maidenhead).

GROUP D: 1st, Billy Castle (Cue T’s, Marchwood); 2nd, Daniel Woods (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, Mike Lloyd (Rileys, Newport, Wales); 4th, Neil Carroll (Chandler’s Ford SC); 5th, Sam Storey (Crucible, Newbury); 6th, Alan Childs (Salisbury SC).

QUARTER-FINALS (£10, 12 points): Woods beat King 2-1, C Lloyd beat Shaw 2-0, Finn w/o Brown, Castle beat Blunn 2-0.

SEMI-FINALS (£25, 15 points): C Lloyd beat Woods 3-1, Castle beat Finn 3-1.

FINAL (£100/£50, 25/18 points): C Lloyd beat Castle 1-0.