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Chris Thomas took over from another England international by winning the Worthing Open on Sunday.
Thomas, making a rare appearance at a domestic circuit tournament, beat Jeremy Bradley 1-0 in the final to claim a title won for the last two years by Shorab Jadunandan.
With Shorab now retired from the game, and last season’s runner-up, Dave Pawsey, also not in attendance, it cleared the path for one of the game's lesser lights to claim a final place.
And Bradley seized the initiative by collecting wins over Robert Ginn, Mark Reid, home favourite Craig Heward - on shots after a typical Bradley goalless draw - and John Brand to set up the showdown with Thomas.
And the former Milton Keynes player may well have caused an upset.
Although Thomas just edged possession, Bradley created chance of his own in a close contest. However, with six minutes remaining, the English international grabbed the only goal of the match to record his first National Open victory in more than two years.
Thomas had just crept past local player David Croucher by the odd goal in three in the semis, whilst Bradley beat Brand 1-0 at the same time.
Those matches, and the final, were staged on high quality Astropitches, whereas all preceding games had been played on brand new boards.
Whilst aesthetically pleasing, a lack of strengthening underneath made the boards bow in the middle, giving rise to an unpredictable roll of the ball across the whole pitch, especially so on the wings.
Combined with a new type of playing surface that tended to ran fast and perhaps overall was more suited to the old-style game, the pitches become a great leveller.
Players had to adapt their tactics to cater for the conditions, and on the whole, since close control was difficult, it meant trying to shoot on the move, as Thomas did for all four of his goals against Martin Evans in their last 16 clash.
The pitch got the better of him until just before half time. Then in a devastating two minute spell, Thomas - who had only just edged Nicky Chappell 1-0 in the last 32 - struck three outstanding goals on the move in quick concession to kill the game as a contest by the break.
A fourth, again with a rolling ball shot, midway through the second period completed a 4-0 success.
Evans for his part, despite being on the backfoot for much of the game, had come close to taking the lead in the first half with a superb long-range moving ball effort, and went near again with a similar attempt shortly after the interval.
There were shock results - with several of the higher seeds falling early on - and in some cases the pitches were a contributing factor, as competitors struggled to play their normal game.
David Russell lost to Steve Hawkins in the day's biggest surprise. In only Hawkins' second tournament since his return to the game, the former Milton Keynes TS player came from behind, equalising through an open goal, before striking an overtime winner on the move to record a 2-1 success in the last 16.
The last 32 saw Johan Lourdon beat Shaun Allison in extra time, after the pair had shared four goals in regular time. Allison thought that he had clinched the win in overtime, but his effort was ruled out for offside. And from the ensuing free flick, Lourdon played the ball upfield then hit it on the run into the bottom corner of the net.
David Croucher was the player who slayed the giant killers, when he beat Lourdon 1-0 in the last 16 and Hawkins 2-1 in the quarter-finals.
David Lauder exited in the last 32, losing 1-0 to Brian Barnes, having been defeated by a similar score against Simon Bryan in the group stage.
Another returning Milton Keynes player, Chris Checkley, caused an upset in beating Adrian Curtis 2-1 in the last 32, after his opponent presented him with an open goal in sudden death overtime.
That was one of a number of open goal opportunities over the day as the pitches really started to take their toll, making bases, most significantly those of spare goalkeepers, stop dead at times, irrespective of the amount of polish applied.
Local player Jim Bernadin also produced a few surprises. Having overcome the experienced Mike Newton to top his preliminary group, he then beat Cyril Mitchener in the last 32. And it took an open goal five minutes into extra time for John Brand to get the better of him, in a 3-2 last 16 defeat.
Brand was then involved in a remarkable quarter-final against Panos Stemitsiotis. Having been 2-0 down, three goals - all struck on the move - sealed a superb fightback, more so given the playing conditions, as the London player booked his place in the semis.
Wiltshire's Mike Newton emerged victorious after a complex series of veterans' play-offs, beating Adrian Curtis 1-0 in a very tight final with few chances at either end. The winning goal came two minutes from time, though Curtis hit the bar in the closing seconds.
And there was double Curtis disappointment when Adrian's son Sam lost in the final of the Under-15 competition having been a goal in front of a very vocal Brandon Lavender. The Worthing player hit back though and had equalised by half time, before scoring the winner early into the second period.
A total of 47 players competed at the competition, the highest for an English domestic event for many years.
LINK (offsite): Results file
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