Gunnell delight after TV win

Shropshire’s Adrian Gunnell was today celebrating his “best victory on television” - after downing snooker’s man-of-the-moment.

The Telford cueman reached the final 32 of the Northern Ireland Trophy in Belfast with a hard-fought 5-3 triumph over Hong Kong’s Marco Fu, the man who defeated Ronnie O’Sullivan to lift the Royal Watches Grand Prix at Aberdeen last month.

Gunnell, who featured in the live match on Eurosport, now meets world No 6 Peter Ebdon in the second round tomorrow night, and insists he is in confident mood.

“I could have done one or two things differently but on the whole I was pleased with the way I played,” said the 35-year-old.

“I was a bit tentative because the table was running so fast and I was getting too much response out of the white ball.

“But it’s my best win on television and I still feel there is a lot more to come from me in this tournament.

“Everyone knows Peter is a great competitor but I beat him 5-1 (in the Thailand Masters) in the only time we have played. That won’t mean anything tomorrow because it was a long time ago.”

A break of 58 helped Gunnell into a 1-0 lead but a century from Fu levelled the scores after the Shropshire player missed an excellent chance to pull further clear.

Gunnell took the next two - making another contribution of 85 in the process - to lead 3-1 at the interval but was pegged back to 3-3.

A break of 102 saw Gunnell regain the initiative and he sealed an impressive victory over the world No 15 by edging a tight eighth frame with the aid of a fluke.