The Comeback Kid

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Last night snooker fans witnessed probably the most tense matches of snooker in history. With victory in his grasp, Judd Trump led Ronnie 6-2 going into the last session. All Judd had to do was to hold his nerve and kill off the match. However snooker is such an unpredictable sport and O’ Sullivan seemed to have swallowed a victory pill before walking out to the arena. His determination was evident and rather than falling flat he ripped a page out of Selby’s manual and grinded the match out to take it to a deciding frame.

Trump looked physically shocked and couldn’t seize on Ronnie’s mistakes in the last frame. Despite O’Sullivan’s waistcoat foul, Trump missed a long red and had a second opportunity for a similar red to end the match. However Ronnie’s ridiculous fluke on a pink, missies to the middle bag and hitting a cushion to pot into the baulk pocket really sealed the match.He flicked the difficult yellow off the cushion, Trump’s saving grace and cleared the table to win the match in the midnight hour, beating his chest in jubilation.

As I have said in previous blogs, Trump lacks self confidence and last night was another example of that. Judd had such a great opportunity to dispense O’Sullivan but he frankly bottled it. Maybe the snooker gods were not looking down on him but I am frankly furious that this gifted player let this golden opportunity slip through his fingers.

Pressure is a funny thing and is so prevalent in snooker. In Judd’s case, it has had left a deep mental scar that will be hard to recover from in time for the China Championship.Judd is like a dog licking his wounds and for him they are extremely deep.Not only had he lost the match but he had let Ronnie attempt his goal of winning this tournament and gaining the number one spot. A bitter pill to swallow and this will certainly leave a bad taste in Trump’s mouth for many years to come.

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