Woollaston Takes Group 6

Ben Woollaston defeated Peter Ebdon to win the penultimate group at Championship League Snooker, beating Peter Ebdon late night finish at Crondon Park. He will join Matthew Selt, Ali Carter, Mark Davis, Stuart Bingham and Barry Hawkins in the final group with one more match to be decided.

The Leicester man was a late sub for Ronnie O’Sullivan who withdrew from the competition and he made the most of his opportunity.

“The final was a bit of a scrappy match, it had been a long day for us both but I am happy to win.

“It has been quite a week. I got a late call on Tuesday night and had to leave Leicester at 6am to get here for the start of play. I struggled on the first day but as a bit better today although I didn’t play my best.

“I can’t wait for the winners’ group. Every match is a bonus, I had a bit of luck to get through to the semi-finals when results went y way.”

Woollaston, who needed to win his final round robin match 3-0 to qualify and did just that, beat a fading Dave Gilbert 3-1 in the semi-finals. Ebdon had eliminated Dominic Dale by a similar score line, including a rare ton in the third frame.

The Championship League Snooker event is a venture between Matchroom Sport and Perform where 25 of the game’s elite players compete with all matches broadcast on a host of betting websites.

Each group features seven players with each man playing the other six once in a round-robin basis. Every match is the best of five and the winner gains one point with the loser getting zero.

At the end of the league phase the top four advances to that group’s semi-finals where the two winners meet in the final and the winner advances to the Winners’ Group in February.

The losing finalist, two losing semi-finalists and player finishing fifth move into the next group where they are joined by three new players and the process is repeated.

The winner then goes through to the final group on February 11^th and 12^th where the big money is up for grabs. The two bottom players are eliminated from the competition, while the remaining four move forward to Group Six which commences on Wednesday 28^th January.

Live scoring can be found at www.worldsnooker.com