Snooker: Ken Doherty was forced to dig deep to turn around a match he was in serious danger of losing against Stuart Bingham before finally securing a place in the quarter-final of the Malta Cup today.
The Dubliner, who hasn’t won a world ranking event since the 2001 Thailand Masters, was up against it when he went 3-0 down against Bingham at the Portomaso Hilton Conference Centre. The Englishman should have gone 4-0 up but left a tricky thin cut on the final black in the jaws of a top-corner pocket. Doherty seized and built on the unlikely opportunity.
"That threw me a lifeline and gave me a lot of hope. I kept fighting and hanging in there," said Doherty, who from 3-1 adrift won the next four frames to win 5-3.
"It was a gritty performance that’s given me a chance to get a run going and build my confidence. I just need to string together some results," added the Dubliner.
Doherty will now face Stepehen Maguire in the last eight after he beat Mark King 5-3. It is the first has reached the last eight of a world- ranking event since he won the UK Championship title in 2004.
Maguire put his return to form down to a more mature attitude these days. "I’ve been blowing up, acting like a spoiled brat - but now I’m trying to win or lose like a man," said the 24 year-old Glaswegian.
"Right from the word go this season, I’ve been playing well in practice - but my head’s not been right. Now I’m determined to play properly and not go for everything if things start to go wrong."
Maguire remained patient through the match and took his chances when they came along. "I’m delighted with the way I stuck at it. When you haven’t been getting the results you really start to feel the pressure out there, but I didn’t miss a thing in that last frame," said Maguire who made his breakthrough by beating Jimmy White in the final of the 2004 Malta Cup.
additional reporting by Reuters
