Snooker: Craig MacGillivray wins his first EoS title

Craig MacGillivray shows off the East of Scotland Snooker trophy. Pic: Ian Rutherford

After the opening two frames were shared, MacGillivray was on course for winning the third but, on stretching to pot the brown, he brushed the black ball with his waistcoat to let Chalmers in to clear. However, the Granton player showed great character to win the next frame with a terrific break of 90 to level the match at 2-2 at the interval.

MacGillivray was first out the blocks in the fifth frame with a 42 break but Chalmers, aiming for his fourth East of Scotland title, cleared the colours to lead 3-2. MacGillivray then levelled with a 39 in the sixth before edging in front after winning a scrappy seventh frame to lead 4-3. The eighth frame could have gone either way but MacGillivray put his opponent in a snooker when the scores were level on the green and, after Chalmers narrowly missed the escape, MacGillivray cleared from green to pink to secure victory and the title.

MacGillivray said “This means a lot to me and I am absolutely delighted to win the title for the first time. It was a tough match and there was a couple of times where I thought that I was going to miss out again. However I won a couple of key frames and just managed to hold my nerve and get over the line.”

Frame scores (MacGillivray first): 69-32, 28-65, 44-61, 90-0, 43-51, 69-26, 60-21, 64-49.