Ebdon edged out by Harold

Peter Ebdon lost his grip on the Irish Masters title in Dublin tonight but will be kicking himself all the way back to his Wellingborough home.

The 2002 world champion lost 5-4 in a gruelling match against Stoke potter Dave Harold after being 4-1 up.

A Citywest semi-finalist two years ago, Harold took a 46-minute decider 80-39 to clinch a meeting with Jimmy White.

“At 4-1 I thought I was going home,” admitted the world number 34.

“To be honest I’ve played better in the qualifiers at Prestatyn because it’s been such a long time since I’ve played a final venue.”

Harold has dropped to 60th in the provisional world rankings largely due to suffering a broken wrist at New Year in 2004.

But he has started to show flashes of the form that once made him a top 16 regular.

He has qualified for the final stages of the China Open later this month and is also just one match away from booking a return to the Crucible Theatre for the World Championship.

“That was probably one of the best breaks I’ve ever had in the final frame,” said Harold.

“To be honest I was just potting ball for ball and wasn’t thinking about winning the frame.”

However, his run of 62 still did not take him into a winning lead. With five reds remaining Ebdon could still have salvaged a place in round two.

“The reds were all on the cushion but Peter is the only player in the world who could have done anything from there,” added Harold.

“He got right back into the frame but thankfully I got a chance to clinch the match.

“But Peter made a good defence of his title.”

Ebdon began the match by clinching a 46-minute opener with a 51 break. He added runs of 63, 110 and 64 to lead 4-1.

However, Harold, now on a six-match winning streak, responded with breaks of 89, 56, 42 and 40 to square the contest.

In three frames frozen-out Ebdon managed only 10 points. And when Harold took a 70-0 lead in frame nine Ebdon’s reign was almost over.

But he dragged himself back into contention only for Harold to apply the coup de grace.

Stephen Hendry has never won the Irish Masters title at the Citywest Hotel but he is looking forward to putting the record straight on Sunday night.

The 36-year-old Scot came through his first match tonight with a 5-1 victory over Finland’s Robin Hull.

But he expects a tougher test next time out tomorrow against 47-year-old English rival Steve Davis.

Hendry said: “It will seem strange playing Steve in the last 16 of an event. You would expect it to be in the semi-finals or final.”

The highlight of Hendry’s win was a third frame break of 135 – a total also reached at the same stage of his match against Ian McCulloch by Chris Small.

“I don’t know why I have never won here but it’s an extra incentive to put it right.”

Hendry was in far happier mood than his last appearance when he lost 6-2 against John Higgins in the Wembley Masters.

“I nearly chucked in the towel because I was so frustrated at missing a black off its spot which I hadn’t previously done for three months.

“I was disgusted by Wembley because I don’t know where that performance came from,” admitted the three-times Irish Masters champion.

Stephen Lee produced his “best snooker for three years” to earn a last-16 meeting with local favourite Michael Judge.

Lee, the 1999 Irish Masters runner-up, trailed Thailand’s James Wattana 3-1 at the mid-session interval.

But the 30-year-old from Trowbridge hit back with breaks of 90, 53, 67 and 85 to win 5-3. He also knocked in 95 in the first half of the match.

Lee had been so upset by his defeat in last month’s Rileys Club Masters that he threatened to quit the sport unless there was a big upturn in his fortunes.

Lancastrian Ian McCulloch survived a 51-minute decider to edge out Scotsman Chris Small 5-4 in what is likely to be the longest best of nine frame match of the tournament.

Grand Prix runner-up McCulloch came from 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3 down to snatch the contest on the last four colours.

Preston left-hander McCulloch now meets Welshman Matthew Stevens for a place in the quarter-finals.