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Chris takes the Short route to victory
Players travelled from far and wide to compete for the Wolverhampton Open title - but it was a competitor that lived just five minutes from the venue who took the honours.
Chris Short, who recently linked up with the host Wombourne and Wolverhampton Wildcats club, beat another locally based player, Matt Lampitt, in the Black Country final, to add to the English Championship title won the previous weekend in Preston.
After four clear wins, with 25 goals scored, table soccer veteran Phil Holmes had provided a sterner test for Short in the semi-finals. The EPLer took the lead, but Holmes' second half strike forced their tie into overtime.
The extra period couldn't produce a winner, but a solitary conversion - from his first attempt - in the ensuing shoot-out was enough to put Short through to the final, where two first half goals sealed victory over his training partner Lampitt.
For Lampitt - a 3-1 winner over both Steve Hawkins and Jeff Jordan ahead of the final - the runners-up position was a vast improvement on last season, when he exited at the group stage, after being handed a tough draw.
As for last year, the tournament was unseeded, though this time with free draws conducted for the knockout stages - and the process threw up some interesting outcomes.
Algy Taylor had beaten Paul Sutton in the group stage, but lost to his former Lichfield clubmate, who was making a return to the game after a three year absence, in the barrage round.
In the vital knockout game, an exciting first half, in which six goals were shared, gave way to a blank second period, but a strike late in overtime put Sutton through to a quarter-final against Jeff Jordan, which he was to lose 2-1.
Jordan had faced a couple of other close-fought matches on his path to the quarters. Opening with a 1-0 victory over Craig Heward, the East Londoner then beat Ally Stephen 3-1, despite seeing his opponent have a number of chances, but failing to take them.
It was a similar story against Stephen's Putney league colleague Rob O'Hare in the barrage round. O'Hare, a qualifier courtesy of a 3-1 win over Tom Taylor, having earlier lost 8-1 to Short, had the better of the clear-cut chances and forced four outstanding keeper saves.
Jordan however enjoyed the majority of possession and was more productive with his goal opportunities, scoring first via a free-flick - awarded for a save being made outside the area - before making it 2-0 on his next attack, with less than 20 seconds remaining in the first half.
Adrian Curtis meanwhile was taking the noticeable scalp of reigning English circuit champion Heward, with a 1-0 victory.
Curtis put in his best performance of the season so far to defeat the Worthing Fivestar number 1 with a single first half goal, whilst restricting his opponent to just two shots in the entire game.
However, Curtis came undone in the quarter-finals against Holmes. In a tight game, the Milton Keynes player broke the deadlock with five minutes remaining, and as Curtis pushed forward in search of an equaliser, he left gaps in defence, which Holmes capitalised upon, scoring twice more to complete a 3-0 victory.
* Ally Stephen won the plate event, beating Sam Curtis 2-0 in the final.
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