European Amateur Tour - News - 2006-02-18 13:16:45
Saturday evening’s eagerly awaited European Amateur Tour Final will be contested by Andrew Thornton from Preston, and Darren “Eyebrows” Baker from Nelson Mandela House, in Hackney, London. Thornton arrived at the final via a 6-2 semi final victory over the highly-rated Welshman, Kristian Phillips, who is currently ranked no 9 on the Tour. Baker secured his final berth when he recorded an identical scoreline against Steve Townley of Barking in Essex.

Townley fought back from 5-3 down to pip Peter Dinsdale 6-5 in his quarter final match, while Baker at 2-1 down run 4 racks to take a stranglehold in his match with Johnny Vaughan, with the eventual scoreline being 6-4.

Phillips’ quarter final victory came against fellow Welsh international Simon Ward. After trailing 3-1 Phillips wrapped up the match 6-4. Thornton’s quarter final was a 6-1 thrashing of Derby’s James Attridge, who has had some excellent early success on the Tour, beating the young Southern Irish professional Darren Feehan 7-2.

The last 16 saw the exits of Alex Jennison at the hands of Attridge 6-2, Jack Whelan , beaten by finalist Thornton. The winner of Event Two’s amateur event, John Giles, lost to Wardy 6-2, while Kristian Phillips put Julian Wilson-Wolff to the sword 6-3. The event’s only female entrant Amanda Watson exited 6-2 to Welshman Johnny Vaughan while “Eyebrows” was ending former Pro Wayne Camm’s interest in the event 6-3. The final 2 matches in the last 16 saw Peter DInsdale defeat Lee Mannion 6-3 and Steve Townley beat the talented young Welshman Ieuan Roberts 6-1.