Ali Carter fights back to beat Joe O’Connor and book his place in final of Players Championship

Ali Carter overcame bouts of frustration to rally from 4-2 down to beat Joe O’Connor 6-4 and book his place in the final of the Players Championship.

Carter is famed for his steely character and he needed to dig in against O’Connor in Wolverhampton on Friday. O’Connor played well for decent spells of the match and also had some good fortune on his side, which had Carter muttering to himself and shaking his head in frustration.

But he overcame the setbacks and found decent form towards the end of the contest to keep his hopes of a second title of the season alive, to follow up his German Masters success.

Carter awaits the winner of the second semi-final between Kyren Wilson and Shaun Murphy, which takes place on Saturday evening.

Carter worked the first opening of the contest and made a break of 40 before breaking down. It looked like a handy lead until O’Connor picked off a mid-range red with aplomb and ran through a break of 68 which was enough to take the opener.

O’Connor had a good chance in the second after knocking in a long red and dropping on the black. He looked well positioned to go on and double his lead, but under-hit a pink along the bottom rail and was forced to watch on as Carter countered with a 52.

Carter did not close out the frame at the first time of asking and there was the drama of O’Connor forcing a snooker to keep the frame alive, but a foul on the final red enabled Carter to draw level.

A poor break from O’Connor handed Carter an easy starter in the third and he compiled a quick-fire break of 42 before failing to get the split he wanted and elected to run for cover. The sensible option proved to be the wise option, as Carter got another chance a short while later to take him into a healthy lead.

O’Connor had a chance to counter when getting a free ball off a snooker. The best option looked to be to put the balls back, but he elected to free the black – despite the pink being tied up. There seemed to be a lack of experience behind the decision making, and it proved to be an error as Carter potted the yellow he needed to get in front.

O’Connor could feel unfortunate to have conceded a chance off the break in the previous frame, there were no excuses for the terrible safety in the fourth. It was not clear what his thought process was as he hit a red full-ball and it came back off the bottom rail to double-kiss the cue ball. After looking good in frames two and three, it was a surprise when Carter missed a blue off its spot on 39. A short while later, a safety error allowed O’Connor to get his hand on the table and he made 79 to level the match at the interval.

As in the fourth, Carter missed a simple ball – a straight pink – when seemingly well set in the fifth and O’Connor countered with a run of 54.

O’Connor spent a deal of time in the company of his fellow Leicester man, Mark Selby earlier in his career and after failing to get on the final red he needed to clinch the frame, he shrugged it off and laid a snooker Selby would have been proud of. It handed him the advantage in the safety exchange and when the chance came he knocked in the red with a degree of authority to move back in front at 3-2.

Even when you are playing well, slices of fortune are most welcome and O’Connor got a cake full of luck in the sixth. He was in trouble after Carter left him snookered behind the yellow. He went for the thin escape in the hope of returning to baulk. The contact on his target red was much too thick, but Carter could only look on in despair as the red trundled towards and into the left middle.

O’Connor took full advantage of his luck by knocking in a fine break of 86 to open up a two-frame lead for the first time in the match.

Carter looked in danger of losing his cool as further slices of fortune went O’Connor’s way in the seventh, but he snapped a 49-minute run without potting a ball and won an arm wrestle of a frame to cut the gap to one and revive his hopes.

The quality was not always high, but it was not lacking in drama. The eighth had plenty of it, after Carter made an excellent break of 70.

O’Connor required a snooker and got it in thrilling fashion before embarking on a swashbuckling break. With the balls poorly positioned, O’Connor picked them off one by one with superb pot after superb pot. He stroked in the final blue and went round three cushions to drop perfectly on the pink. Two pots were required to force a re-spot, but he snatched at the pink, it stayed out and Carter crunched it on to level.

After looking so strong in compiling his break in the eighth, the miss on the pink appeared to sap a bit of belief from O’Connor. Contributions of 44 and 21 put Carter in the driving seat in the ninth, and he hammered home his superiority with a long red that was frame ball.

O’Connor had a good chance to force a decider, but was never able to get plumb position and after missing a tough cut on a red he left the table open for Carter and he held his nerve to wrap up the win and his place in an 11th ranking final with a fine break of 79.

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