Silver Tour lads knocked out in Leeds

AT LEAST they weren’t drawn against each other.

Three lads who compete on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Silver Tour made the long drive up the MI to Leeds for one best-of-seven-frame match each.

Bradley Cowdroy, Mickey Joyce and Jamie Wilson were all beaten in the last-16 of the English Under-14 Championship at the Northern Snooker Centre.

Cowdroy, who turned 12 seven days previously, clocked up the most miles. He made a mind-numbing 543-mile round trip from Bournemouth only to be knocked out 4-3 by 12-year-old Bradley Ferguson (North Wales), the cousin of Olympic taekwondo gold medallist Jade Jones.

The Greenbaize Snooker Club youngster lost the opening frame of the three-hour match. But after leading 2-1 and 3-2, he couldn’t quite get over the line and Ferguson nicked the decider on the final two balls.

Dad Jim said: “Bradley was of course disappointed but felt he played very well throughout the match.

“He definitely raised his concentration and matchplay up a notch throughout the whole match, which either player could have won with literally only one or two different shot outcomes or pieces of luck here or there.

“I was really pleased and proud of how he handled himself all the way through and he reacted positively to the result afterwards, despite his disappointment.

“Having shown himself that he can play that way, he now has the opportunity of using that experience in future Cuestars and EASB tournaments.”

Silver Tour rankings leader Joyce (pictured above) lost 4-1 to last season’s runner-up Chae Ross (Leicester). The ten-year-old from Basingstoke, along with Cowdroy and Wilson, also competes on the EASB Regional Junior Tour South.

And ten-year-old Wilson (Portsmouth), who was beaten in the last-16 last year by Olly Clark (Gosport), went out 4-1 to eventual finalist Hamim Hussain (Birmingham).

The trio booked their places in Leeds via the southern qualifying tournament in Swindon in January.

Picture by Tim Dunkley