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Evenin' all.
Not sure if anyone was in WTs tonight, but Willie Thorne & Ding Junhui were there (back by popular demand after last years visit). I'd stuck my name into the lucky draw ages ago to play one of 4 frames against the guy this evening. Obviously thinking i had no chance of playing, i went down there anyway to watch.
The first guy who played him got 3 shots all game. A poor safety let Ding in, who cleared the table with a 125 total clearance. Awesome.
WT then called up the second guy to play. He didn't emerge, so another name was drawn. That happened to be me! Shocked and bricking it, up i went to break off against the UK champion.
A warm up would have been nice, but no such luck. Straight into the break, which was piss poor and left 2 reds on. He banged a long red in, and i thought i might not even get another shot. Downed the black, then unexpectedly missed and left me in.
After a quick scan, i had a nice plant into the corner. Sunk that to be left a thin pink with only a small gap to pot into. Tucked that in nicely to be left a long red that Ding had left over the pocket. Smashed that in with plenty o' bottom right to swing round onto the green. Stunned that in down the table to drop on two reds, but i just nudged the blue that was nearby and was left nowt. Bugger it. At least i didn't get dished though. Played safe to be sure, and got a nice round of applause for potting a few balls. Nice!
After a couple of awful long red attempts by me, i left him in again where he made 30ish before missing. I had a tricky red in the middle on, but with no obvious safety, i was forced into it. I missed it, and let him in again. He made another 30 odd before again running off and missing.
At this point i was about 50 behind with 4 reds left. Not much to play with, but i had a nice red black chance. He left me a long red, which i slotted in nicely to some generous applause. I'd left myself a decentish angle on the black, but i was stretching over the table. Missed the pot by a fair bit really, but got the position on the reds. Ding then duly mopped those up before missing the last blue.
I'd lost, but not done too badly. Got the professional UK champ down to 3 reds, which i was more than happy with. I didn't play anywhere near my best, but a combination of nerves and no practice killed me i reckon. Still a great experience to play the guy though, he's unbelievably good!
Matt
