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The Barbican Centre, York - 3-11 December 2011
TICKETS - WATCH LIVE (UK) - WATCH LIVE (R.O.W) - WORLD SNOOKER
UPDATED DRAW & RESULTS - PHOTOS - PHOTOS FROM MONIQUE LIMBOS
UK Championship 2011 - Ricky Walden v Mark Allen Live
Mark Allen 9-7 Ricky Walden - 60-50, 1-125 (124), 86-31 (85), 70-0 (54), 36-76 (60), 36-81 (66), 0-98 (98), 0-132 (127), 81-0, 83-0 (79), 62-60, 80-8 (64), 0-70 (52), 79-0, 54-72 (65, 54), 74-6 (70)
14.32 - Apologies for the late start, was playing in a charity pool tournament in memory of the late Dave Coleshill with World Snooker officials/referees and other locals and I didn't get to play my second match untill 3am so had to have a good rest this morning!
14.33 - Mark Allen has a 3-1 lead going in to the mid-session interval. The only frame Ricky won he made a great 124 break but plenty of unforced errors from the Chester player meant that Mark had the advantage.
Mark Allen, 3-1 ahead going in to the mid-session interval.
14.58 - Harsh. Mark Allen had a chance to go 4-1 ahead when they came back, Ricky Walden was ahead and Mark needed to clear the colours for the frame but he went in-off in the middle pocket which allowed Ricky to sneak it. Only 3-2 behind Mark now, still anyones match.
15.15 - Fantastic frame for Ricky Walden. Took advantange of Mark Allen only being able to accumilate 33 points and made a top 66 break to level the match at 3-3. Mark failing to capitalize on his chance to go 4-1 earlier has definitely come back to haunt him. Could be another close finish when they resume tonight. two more frames to play this afternoon still.
15.27 - A poor safety shot from Mark Allen leaves Ricky Walden in to make a fantastic 98 break to go 4-3 ahead. Definitely looking the more comfortable of the two now. Can he get a 5-3 lead going in to the evening session?
Ricky Walden, 4-3 up from 3-1 behind.
15.36 - Ricky Walden once again in the balls and flying, currently on a break of 43. Mark Allen keeps missing his chances, will definitely be glad the session is over after this frame.
15.42 - Incredible run from Ricky Walden. Comes from 3-1 behind with the aid of breaks of 98 and a 127 in the last frame to lead Mark Allen 5-3 at the end of the afternoon's session. Mark missed that chance to go 4-1 up earlier and Ricky punished him. The 2008 Shanghai Masters champion will now be favourite to join Judd Trump in tomorrow's UK final. See photos from today's semi-final here.
18.54 - Back at the Barbican Centre after a wonder around the lovely town of York. Great shops, architecture and a fantastic place to be at christmas. Mark Allen needs to have a good start in tonight's final session or he will find himself facing an uphill battle against Ricky Walden who leads 5-3.
The Barbican Centre
19.33 - In the first frame of tonight's session Ricky Walden fails to capitalize on a couple half chances and Mark Allen does enough to come back to 5-4 behind.
19.39 - Mark Allen doesn't hang around as a bad safety from Ricky Walden allows the man from Antrim to pull off a rapid fire break of 79 to draw level at 5-5. Ricky will be kicking himself having given that lead away so easily, Mark should look to capitalize having most of the table time going in to the next two frames before the interval.
20.06 - Mark Allen steals the 11th frame 62-60 after Ricky Walden missed the match ball brown in to the middle pocket to take a 6-5 lead from being 5-3 down after the afternoon session, fantastic turnaround for Mark.
20.10 - Mark Allen gets off to another fantastic start in the 12th frame with a break of 64 but runs out of position and is forced to play safe. Chance for Ricky Walden to get back in to this match.
20.26 - The 64 break was enough in the end and Mark Allen wins the frame. Four in a row from 5-3 down earlier to lead 7-5. Mid-session interval couldn't of come quick enough for Ricky Walden, lets hope he gets off to a good start when they resume in a few minutes.
20.39 - Was watching the BBC Two feed during the interval, always nice to see the interviews with the players in a more relaxing setting. In this instance they interviewed Mark in a local snooker club and Ricky in a railway museum. Also amusing to see the coaching videos from Ken Doherty and Steve Davis, and in Steve's case they are usually very interesting!
20.50 - Ricky Walden makes a break of 52 but misses an easy red due to a kick. Fortunately Mark Allen misses straight away thanks to another kick which gifts Ricky the frame. Finally off the line in this evening's session, only one behind at 6-7.
Ricky Walden finally gets a frame back from Mark Allen, only 7-6 behind now.
21.15 - Breaks of 43 and 33 were enough to give Mark Allen a commanding 8-6 lead and now Ricky needs to win all three remaining frames to deny Mark Allen his debut ranking event final.
21.30 - Winning line seems far away for Mark Allen as he scores 55 but misses a simple red to the middle pocket which allows Ricky Walden to make possibly one of the best breaks of his career, a 65 which included an inch-perfect position shot from a red going all away around the table for the pink to split the reds. Only 8-7 behind now.
21.57 - Thats it, a fantastic red in to the middle pocket and some excellent positional play around the black spot helps Mark Allen make a 70 break to win the frame and match. He reaches his first ever ranking event final and becomes only the first Northern Irish player since Dennis Taylor in the 1990 Asian Open to reach a final of a major ranking event. He's been to five semi-finals before and lost all of them, can he go one further than the final tomorrow and win the tournament? Will be a tough test against Judd Trump, bookies have obviously made the Bristolian slight favourite for the title.
Mark Allen, through to the final with a 9-7 victory over Ricky Walden.
UPDATED DRAW & RESULTS - PHOTOS FROM THE MATCH
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