Defending champ marches on

They may be more au fait around a pool table – but Craig Reynolds and Kevin Uzzell went head-to-head in the second round of the 2009 Shropshire Star Snooker Knockout.

And it was Reynolds who came out on top in the green baize battle of two players who regularly compete in national and international pool tournaments.

Reynolds, of Minnesota Fats, got off to the perfect start in the clash at Shifnal, taking the first frame with a break of 38 and then edging a scrappy second.

Uzzell, in his first competitive snooker tournament for seven years, hit back to take the third but Reynolds sealed a 3-1 triumph by taking the fourth frame on the pink to move into the last 16.

Anstice's Ian Duffy was the biggest casualty of the last 32 as he slumped to a shock defeat to Ian Skelton of Maddocks.

Skelton lived up to is "Mister Consistency" nickname with a steady showing, which included a break of 64 in the opening frame.

He looked set to seal a 3-0 triumph before going in-off on the final blue, but recovered his poise to wrap up victory in the next.

Last year's finalists Matt Davies and Mike Dubicki enjoyed straight-forward progress as they saw off Ben Sewell and Dave Berry respectively.

But Overton's 2006 runner-up Mike Dorey crashed out as he was whitewashed by Cefn's Matthew Roberts in a game where each frame went down to the pink.

Teenager Tom Maxfield set up an intriguing meeting with defending champion Davies with a 3-0 triumph over Oswestry's Mark Roberts while Mark Willis edged out John Peatroy in the only match to go to a deciding frame.

Shrewsbury's Callum Wraight continues to make serene progress through the rounds with a 3-0 victory over Phil Davies, while John Banks – of Stanton – dropped just one frame in seeing off Simon Yeates.

The one outstanding game, between Drew Hughes and Lee Gorton, will be played tomorrow.

By JAMES GARRISON