Skillett ends his long wait for a title
JOHN SKILLETT has ended his hoodoo and claimed a long overdue first straight title by adding his name to the Imperium Trust Guernsey Snooker Open trophy.
The nearly man has come so close on many occasions – no less than three times a runner-up in this competition – that his 3-1 victory over Martyn Desperques in the final proved immensely popular in front of the North Social audience.
It was a perfectly-timed run by Skillett, too, as he saved his best form for the final.
In each of his prior four matches, Skillett had to come from a frame down to progress, but in opening up with a break of 38 for once he was making the running.
In a best-of-five final, Skillett also took the next against Desperques, who failed to hit the high notes that he has shown in the last few league matches.
Unusually, Desperques did not figure on the high breaks board, but he typically showed his determination by winning the third frame.
Skillett’s supporters feared the worst, that their man would again fall short, but they were soon comforted by a classy 68 break.
Although Desperques prolonged the inevitable, the celebrations followed, with Skillett emotionally dedicating his win to Scott Bradford.
Earlier on, Adam Shorto was in sparkling form with a tournament top break of 88 in beating Danny Hook, and he had two more of over 50 before losing out to Glenn Le Prevost in the quarter-finals.
Le Prevost himself had breaks of 67 and 55 on the way to his semi exit against Skillett, while there was also a good showing by Jess De La Haye to get to the last four.
