The qualifying competition for the Scottish Open concludes on Friday when the 12 players yet to head to Cannock to play the one match they need to win to make it through to the final stages do so on a pretty competitive looking day of snooker.
We have seen most of the big names already this week but there is one home player who will be eager to get himself into the main draw next month who is on show over the course of just three sessions of play on Friday.
Morning Session
Once again the two Chinese players who are on show on Friday will be in action in the morning session. Lyu Haotian is the leading ranked player in this opening session and he will be favourite to progress to the main draw when he takes on the veteran Alfie Burden. The pick of the two matches could be the other one though as the second Chinese player in action, Si Jiahui, takes on a Mark King who is starting to look over his shoulder in the world rankings as he slides down them.
Early Afternoon Session
This is the session where the big home star Stephen Maguire will look to make it through to the main draw of his home event. Maguire would usually have his qualifying match held over to the venue but as he has dropped out of the top 16 he has to play in this event. Michael Judge is the man standing in his way. The other match in this session gives two youngsters the chance to progress to the main draw when Ashley Hugill meets Ben Mertens.
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Later Afternoon Session
That leaves two matches for the later afternoon session which is the final two games in the qualifying competition. Both matches should be competitive with little between the competitors in them. We are guaranteed a Jones in the main draw as Jamie meets his fellow Welsh player Jak while in the other game Ben Woollaston will look to make it through to another full draw when he takes on the dangerous and underrated Chris Wakelin.
Betting
I’ll finish the week off with one bet which comes in the last of the sessions of the qualifying competition and is on the match between Ben Woollaston and Chris Wakelin, a match I fancy the former to come out on top in. I like Wakelin and think he should have achieved more than he has in his career but he appears to be at a serious disadvantage to me in this match. I say that because he hasn’t played a competitive match for almost two months and you have to go back another week or so for the last time he won one.
Woollaston doesn’t have that issue as he was on show at the British Open a couple of weeks ago where he took care of Mark Williams on his way to the last 16 of the competition. Add that onto him reaching the final day of the Championship League and this has been a positive start to the campaign for the Leicester man, added to by the fact he beat the winner of the British Open, Ryan Day, to qualify for the Northern Ireland Open next week. Winning form counts for a lot at this stage of the season and Woollaston has it. He has my money on his side too.
Tips
Back B.Woollaston to beat C.Wakelin for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
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