Ryan’s joy of six
ALDERSHOT hotshot Ryan Mears has “just” made it through to the English Six Reds Championship final.
The 23-year-old will take on John Astley (Gateshead) in a best-of-11 during the EASB’s finals weekend on May 26-27 at the World Snooker Academy, Sheffield.
In a roller-coaster ride through the group stages at the Northern Snooker Centre, Leeds, Mears beat Matthew Davies (Telford) 3-2, lost 3-2 to Kevin Firth (Bradford), beat Michael Heyworth (Swinton) 3-0, lost 3-0 to Ryan Clark (Hartlepool) and beat Darran Lock (Seaton, Cornwall) 3-0.
After qualifying for the quarter-finals in second place, he went 3-0 down to Joe Roberts (Featherstone), pulled it back to 3-3, lost the next and eventually won 5-4 on the final black.
And the drama didn’t end there. Mears, who is based at the Sovereign Snooker Club, Farnborough, trailed 4-3 to James Buck (Bristol) in the semi-finals before clinching a final spot with a long, straight pink in the ninth-frame decider.
Dad Ray said: “Ryan made it – just!