UK championship match discussion thread

[Alex0paul]

9-5 again! Beat O'Brien 9-5, Swail 9-5, McCulloch 9-5, Williams 9-5 and Murphy 9-5.

[PaulTheSoave]

If you have a big lead, you tend to lose concentration and as it seems now, its all over. finishing off with a ton. when he came nearer he just stepped up one gear again.

Maguire is not getting the run in the balls he was getting in the first session. He's broke down again here when he was looking in a good position. If Murphy takes this frame I think Maguire may start to get really edgy.

[HarmySandwhich]

Yeah, when Maguire is playing badly he really plays bad. Does anyone remember the amount of balls he missed during his match with Ronnie in the Grand Prix [I think it was GP].

[Martin76]

If Maguire wins this frame he's officially Stephen "Dolly Parton" Maguire.
Working 9 to 5 (Swail), 9 to 5 (McCulloch), 9 to 5 (Williams)... Murphy?

[cueman]

Maguire is not getting the run in the balls he was getting in the first session. He's broke down again here when he was looking in a good position. If Murphy takes this frame I think Maguire may start to get really edgy.

[Martin76]

Two brilliant pots at the start of the fourteenth frame answers that question, I guess.

[Martin76]

Yep, 8-5.

Is Maguire starting to get nervous here?

[HarmySandwhich]

8-5

Maguire is looking shakey but that's natural since he's just one frame away. I want Murphy to win.

[Martin76]

Unbelieveable that Murphy has a highest pot rate than Maguire. Maguire didn't seem to miss a ball in the first session.

I was thinking the same thing about the pot sucess rates. Weird...

8-4 at the interval. I must say Murphy is looking sharp, but I think he woke up too late to have a real chance. Nice with a bit of evening entertainment though, and at least a pretense of a fight. I was worried that there might be two quick Maguire-visits and then I'd be stuck watching Morse or something...

[hegeland]

Unbelieveable that Murphy has a highest pot rate than Maguire. Maguire didn't seem to miss a ball in the first session.

[zombieman]

For a player 1-7 down, that was surely a nice clearance (and a very possible tournament high break prize to boot).

[hegeland]

Had this session been 6 frames instead of 8 I think Murphy could have had a chance, because I think he is able to recover, but now the lead is just too big. I can't see Maguire lose from here, whatever happens in the evening session.

Classy start from Murphy here, just what one can expect at this point in the match. But surely there's no way he can come back from this deficit.

[gensdon]

i was just watching the bbc review of the first session, it seems that maguire did shake murphy's hand at the beginning. it seems that maguire shaked murphy's hand on his way to his chair when he was introduced into the arena rather than the customary shake before the first frame break off.

[hegeland]

I hope he didn't deliberately declined to shake hands just to put Murphy off. That would be really bad sportsmanship. He probably forgot it, although that is questionable, as it virtually never happens.

[Alex0paul]

are you sure, because that'll stir quite a bit of media discussion post match.

i don't think it's particularly good for maguire if he peaks his game at semi-final, because that'll only mean he'll play worse(may still be good, but just not as good), and he can't afford that against selby or ronnie

Well it was reported on snooker scene blog that Maguire didn't sahke his hand before he broke off. Obviously he could have forgotten to because he was so focused. It has happened before as Dave Hendon mentions in his blog that Williams didn't sahke Higgins' hand before the 2000 world semi final final session when trailing 14-10.