The Championship League Snooker resumes on Monday when another eight players get their season underway at the Morningside Arena in Leicester with each of them looking to secure one of the two places in the next stage of the event.
Martin Gould is the headline attraction looking to join the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Tom Ford and Barry Hawkins who all made it through to the second stage last week. There are plenty of players lower down the ranking who will want to kick their season off strongly too.
Day 6 Recap
We had upsets in both groups on Friday as we thought we might do. On the main table, as we predicted, Anthony McGill came up short and it was Mark Davis who took full advantage to come through to the next stage. Over on Table Two it was Chang Bingyu who came through courtesy of a couple of wins and a draw. Luca Brecel was the big name who bit the dust from that section while Pang Junxu also went out.
Junxu didn’t disappear before he brought our bet in though. We took him without the draw to see off Luca Brecel and we were never really in any doubt. We was slightly fortunate that Brecel was already out of contention by the time the match came around and it was pretty obvious he had no interest in the match. Pang took full advantage of that to put in three decent breaks to win 3-0 and end the week on a positive for us.
Group 13
Fixtures
Oliver Lines vs Peter Devlin
Joshua Thomond vs Luke Pinches
Joshua Thomond vs Peter Devlin
Oliver Lines vs Luke Pinches
Joshua Thomond vs Oliver Lines
Peter Devlin vs Luke Pinches
Preview
The weakest group of the lot is the one which forms the action on Table Two on Monday. It is a group which sees Oliver Lines as the leading seed in it and really he would be a second seed in normal times but there was a withdrawal before the event began leaving this group weak. The second seed is Peter Devlin who would ordinarily be the third seed. The group is made up by a pair of amateurs who failed to come through Q-School successfully but did well enough to receive invites in Joshua Thomond and Luke Pinches.
Group 14
Fixtures
Martin Gould vs Ryan Davies
Ken Doherty vs Rory McLeod
Ken Doherty vs Ryan Davies
Martin Gould vs Rory McLeod
Rory McLeod vs Ryan Davies
Martin Gould vs Ken Doherty
Preview
The better of the two groups on Monday forms the action on Table One and therefore the televised snooker throughout the course of the day. Martin Gould has a pretty good record in the quirkier formats and he’ll be looking to extend that here. He is in with a Ken Doherty who has gone well in this competition in the past when this format has been used. Rory McLeod overcame Jack Lisowski to win his first group last season so he shouldn’t be slept on. Another amateur makes up the section in the form of Ryan Davies.
Special Offer
OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH 888SPORT AND BET £10 TO GET £30 IN FREE BETS PLUS A £10 CASINO BONUS! PERFECT OFFER TO USE ON THIS TOURNAMENT! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO JOIN. USE CODE 30F. NEW ACCOUNTS ONLY. 18+ T&Cs apply (See image for significant terms). Gamble Aware.
Group Betting
While we had a couple of favourites that I wanted to take on in the two sections on Friday, even though I couldn’t decide who to take them on with, we haven’t got that here. I actually think both the favourites look solid things. Oliver Lines should really be a penalty kick in the group over on Table Two. We’ve seen throughout the event so far that the amateurs struggle to get the pace of the table while Peter Devlin isn’t up there when it comes to dangerous second seeds.
Martin Gould is probably less strong as a favourite over on the main table on Monday but I still expect him to come through without too many problems. I say he is less strong because he is up against Ken Doherty and Rory McLeod, who while they might be past their very best have been around long enough to know how to handle themselves in a tournament like this. While I like both the favourites, they are both far too short for me.
Match Betting
There isn’t a whole lot that I like over the course of the day in the match betting department but I’ll take a chance that the day means more for Rory McLeod than Ken Doherty and as a result he can upset the former champion of the world. Doherty has TV commitments and everything else to rely on these days and that might mean he hasn’t practiced as much in recent times. That isn’t the case with McLeod so that might be significant.
I wouldn’t usually have played McLeod but the fact that he escaped his group last year, a group which had Jack Lisowski in it, makes me think that he is worth a go in this match. I definitely wouldn’t want the draw in play but given the possible extra motivation that McLeod has combined with the fact that he is capable enough of managing matches if and when he gets in front, the 13/8 on him to win this might be a little big.
Tips
Back R.McLeod to beat K.Doherty (DNB) for a 2/10 stake at 2.63 with Coral
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2021
