Thursday 30 March

Joker Pips Storry in Shootout Thriller

Jimmy Croxton posted a magnificent 21.5 second Six Red Shootout time, to defeat Shaun Storry and book his place in the Quarter Finals of the UltimatePool.TV Masters.

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"The Joker" kicked off proceedings against former Challenger Series Quarter Finalist, Gaz Royds. Croxton moved into an early 2-0 lead, before being pegged back to 2-2 after two great finishes from the Wigan Cueist. Royds then moved 3-2 infront, before Croxton would go on to reel off 5 consecutive frames to run out the match 7-3.

Shaun Storry and Karl Boyes faced off in the second match. Both are widely considered to be two of Ultimate Pools most consistent performers, however it would be Storry who came out on top. "Autopilot" raced into a 2-0 lead, before Boyes fought his way back into the match. Storry kicked on to go 4-2 infront, before a huge slice of luck in his favour put him 5-2 infront. Boyes then found himself in trouble in frame 8, a positional error saw him let him Shaun back in. Storry took two more frames and ran out an 8-2 winner over "Box Office".

The final match of the evening saw a little bit of everything. Croxton came out of the traps early into a 3-1 lead, which included a huge pot out of a snooker on the 8 Ball in the 4th frame. Storry rallied however to draw back level at 3-3. The two exchanged frames to 5-5, until a huge finish from Croxton saw him move 6-5 infront. He would go on however to spurn a chance in the 12th frame, which Storry duly capitalised on. Croxton moved infront once again to 7-6, before a kamikaze final frame saw Croxton attempt to run down the match clock. However with less than 40 seconds remaining, Storry danced round the table to clear his yellows and force the match into a 6 Red Shootout.

One of the more consistent Six Red performers, it was looking like Autopilot would post a very low time, however after an unexpected miss on his last ball, it was a 25.02 time posted. Croxton broke well and ran out perfectly to post a personal best of 21.05 to eliminate Storry and move into the next stage of the event.

Next week, Northern Irish compatriots Declan Brennan & Ronan McCarthy feature, alongside the inform Cole Bedford & fellow countryman, Zak Shepherd.

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