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Russell suffers the curse of Yorkshire
David Russell's Yorkshire Open curse continued, as he crashed out against Adrian Curtis in the quarter-finals of this year's competition.
Last season, a single Alan Collins goal did the damage. This time, one round further, the EPL player surprisingly exited to Curtis.
Russell - who may otherwise have been defending his UK & Ireland Championship title in Dundee - had scored 6 goals in each of his first three games, and held the upper hand in his clash with Curtis. But a solitary first half strike by the Peterborough veteran was enough to seal his surprise victory.
Again Russell's conqueror went on to reach - and then lose - the final.
Curtis' finishing was on top form to get to the final - his second on the circuit this season - as three first half goals put him firmly on the way to a 4-2 victory against Yorkshire clubmate Paul Lawrenson in the semis.
But just as in Westmorland last November, Curtis had to settle for the runner-up position, this time at the expense of the experienced Jeremy Bradley.
The outgoing Yorkshire Phoenix spurned a chance to level the scores at 1-1, but ultimately a goal in each half gave Bradley victory.
Curtis was not the only player to raise eyebrows.
Neil Lishman - previously famed more for the Stefan Corda range, rather than his playing ability - showed his intent early on, when he overturned a half time deficit to defeat Curtis himself 2-1 in the group stage.
That meant that he avoided a last 16 match against his son Matt. Instead Curtis faced the youngster, and a first half goal settled a keenly contested game in his favour.
Lishman senior meanwhile progressed as far as the semi-finals on his open section debut, before Bradley beat him 3-0.
The tournament in the Panasonic Suite, at the Galpharm Stadium in Huddersfield, also saw a celebrity entrant in the form of Rugby League star Robbie Paul.
The New Zealand international - who currently plays for the Huddersfield Giants - even picked up a 1-1 draw against Kevin Adderley.
Andrew Watson, Chief Executive of the host stadium's other occupants, Huddersfield Town FC, was also amongst the 24 competitors.
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Adrian Curtis and Neil Lishman missed out on the chance to compete for the veterans' title, after reaching the main open final and semi-finals respectively.
Instead Yorkshire's Richard Pepper beat Les Commons 4-0 to collect the honour.
Further Phoenix success came in the 3-player U19 competition, when Matt Lishman defeated Sam Curtis 2-1 in the deciding encounter.
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David Russell 0-1 Adrian Curtis
Sam Curtis 1-4 Paul Lawrenson
Jeremy Bradley 1-0 Simon Bryan
Keith Tiplady 2-3 Neil Lishman
Adrian Curtis 4-2 Paul Lawrenson
Jeremy Bradley 3-0 Neil Lishman
Adrian Curtis 0-2 Jeremy Bradley
Veterans
Semi-finals
Andy Murray 1-2 Les Commons
Paul Wilkinson 0-6 Richard Pepper
Richard Pepper 4-0 Les Commons
Matt Lishman 4-0 Jon Bryan
Jon Bryan 0-6 Sam Curtis
Sam Curtis 1-2 Matt Lishman
Lishman 6 pts, Curtis 3 pts, Bryan 0 pts
Kenny Scott 3-2 Neil Munns (ot)
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Quote of the tournament:
"Nice mate, fancy a bit of full contact Subbuteo?" - Rugby League international Robbie Paul, after going 1-0 down to Kevin Adderley.
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