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It is rare that a player like Shorab loses his opening group game at a domestic tournament. It is rare that the likes of Phil Redman and Bob Varney go into a final set of matches with qualification in the balance. It is rare that someone like Dave Pawsey is eliminated at the group stage of any competition.
But the English Masters is no ordinary tournament.
The brainchild of Jeremy Bradley, the inaugural contest brought together many of the nation's best players to compete in an event with few easy games.
Shorab can vouch for that, after falling to defeat against the ever-improving Kasper Bennett in the first session of matches.
During a game of few chances, the young Bristolian scored the only goal just before the interval, and then showed experience in holding possession for much of the second period to see out a famous victory.
The one thing hampering Bennett though is his lack of consistency. Having beaten number one seed Shorab, he then lost 1-0 to Chris Short, but more significantly, he later dropped points in a goalless draw with Matt Lampitt. That would ultimately prove vital.
Meanwhile Shorab had got his challenge for the title back on track with a 1-1 draw against Phil Redman.
The Putney member dominated for long periods, and he went ahead late in the second half. But Redman responded immediately, and within a few flicks of the restart, he set up, then scored, the equaliser, before almost sneaking a winner at the very end.
Another draw against Chris Short kept Shorab in the hunt as the pair cancelled each other out in a goalless encounter with few openings at either end. And when Short beat Redman 3-1 in the penultimate round, the Wolverhampton player assured himself of a place in the semis ahead of the final set of matches.
The winner of the Bennett-Redman match-up would clinch the other spot. A draw in that game looked likely to allow Shorab through instead.
The pivotal clash was full of incident - a story of the goal that was and the goal that wasn't in the first half, and a tale of two offside decisions in the second.
Just past the midway point of the opening half, Redman went ahead, playing the ball through the centre of his opponent's defence on the move, before shooting low into the net. Bennett appealed in vain for a free-flick, adamant that one of his figures had been clipped in the build-up.
That goal was to change the pattern of the game. And after a number of chances for Redman to increase his lead, the Merseysider thought that he had added a vital second just before the interval, but the referee adjudged that the shot had not fully crossed over the line, when the ball had in fact appeared to have struck the back of the all-metal goal frame.
Bennett came back strongly in the second half, and it was little surprise when an equalising goal came on 23 minutes. The strike though was a contentious one.
A figure was in an offside position as the shot went in, but with the ball deemed to have been struck on the move - therefore a passive offside - the goal was allowed to stand.
A similar question over offside arose just two minutes later. Bennett chipped what seemed to have been a moving ball into the corner of the goal, but this time the referee gave the defender the benefit of the doubt, ruling that the ball had stopped momentarily in the move.
Both players went in search of the winning goal in the closing stages, to see one of them through on their own accord, but to no avail.
A draw was the score Shorab, playing against Matt Lampitt on the adjacent table, wanted. But he failed to complete his part of the arrangement.
The Londoner led by a goal at half time, though it was Lampitt who had created most of the chances, and should have been in front. Shorab managed to hit a second goal during a more straightforward period after the interval, but he needed a third.
Salvation came when a shot deflected off the bar and hit his opponent's hand inside the area for a penalty. However at the moment Bennett celebrated his equaliser at the next pitch, Shorab struck a weak effort from the spot, which Lampitt pushed wide.
It was the most costly miss of the day. Despite the two-goal victory, Shorab finished level on points with both Redman and Bennett, and level on goal difference with Redman, but the Merseysider got the nod having scored more goals.
Things were just as close at the top of Group B.
Going into the final set of matches, Dave Pawsey, Chris Thomas and Bob Varney were all tied on 8 points apiece - the Milton Keynes player trailing the others by a three goal difference - with David Russell two points adrift, and still holding slim aspirations of qualification himself.
The top three had all drawn against each other, but whilst Pawsey led table the table with the slightly better goal difference after four games, he faced the tougher match of any of the tied players, against Russell.
Shooting had let Pawsey down as he struggled to a 2-1 win against Victor Jones in the opening game. Chris Thomas had no such problems as he hit six past Jones in the final round to guarantee top spot in the table.
Varney's three unanswered first half goals against Adrian Curtis put the pressure on Pawsey, who held a one-goal interval lead over Russell.
The Bristolian couldn't extend his advantage in the second period, and with Varney scoring another three, it was he who took second in the group at Pawsey's expense.
The semi-finals were just as tight as the matches that preceded them.
Chris Thomas was 40 seconds away from the final, but Phil Redman levelled at the death, and then chipped in an overtime winner four minutes into the extra period.
Elsewhere Bob Varney twice held a lead over Chris Short, twice the Midlander equalised. But two minutes from time Varney tucked the ball in from an acute angle, from which there was no return.
In contrast to that semi, the final was a cagey game of few real chances.
Redman had the better of what opportunities there were in the first half, but lacked the final shot in front of goal.
However within 90 seconds of the restart Varney was ahead, when he created an opening before calmly chipping the ball past the keeper. The Milton Keynes veteran applied further pressure for much of the period, seeing a good effort deflected over the goal midway through.
A determined Redman though forced an equaliser with two minutes to play. A weaving move through his opponent's defence finished with the ball saved and deflected out for a flick-in. From that the Merseysider set up a shot on goal, Varney's block wasn't good enough, and Redman hit the leveller low into the net.
Both players had chances to win the tie in extra time. Redman hit the post, whilst Varney played on after a moving ball had been struck, but a final shot was deflected out for a corner.
Another Redman effort was just pushed away by the keeper, and as full time approached, he played the ball up to an unmarked attacking figure, but his shot went wide in the last action of regular play.
In a nervy shootout, Redman seized an early advantage when he chipped in from wide, after Varney had hit the crossbar with his first effort. The next two attempts for each player were saved, and when Varney hit post with his fourth shot, Redman lobbed the ball past the keeper to seal victory and take possession of the magnificent English Masters trophy.
After an intense day's play, it had taken a shootout to separate two close opponents. In table football, that occurrence certainly isn't so rare.
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