England set up mouth-watering tie with Germany
ENGLAND set up a mouth-watering quarter-final with Germany in the 2008 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool.
Reigning World Champion Daryl Peach and European number one Mark Gray defeated Canada 8-4 and will now play the German duo of Ralf Souquet and Thomas Engert in what promises to be the match of the tournament so far.
Canada made a bright start by taking the first two racks but England instantly fought back by winning the next two.
England then took the lead at 3-2 as they worked their way through the table, the highlight being an exquisite positionally shot from the 6 on the top rail to the 7 down table.
A legal break from Gray kept England at the table and the pair looked very smooth as they cleared the table.
Peach did not manage to get the requisite three balls past the headstring so control of the table passed back to the Canadians.
Edey messed up on a safety but Gray missed the 4 ball into the centre pocket and that gave the Canadians a great chance to take the rack which they did to go 3-4.
A dry break from Canada prompted a push out from England but Edey snookered himself on the 2 ball. Peach and Gray fought for position throughout but managed to clear to go 5-3.
A twitch from Montal saw the 1 ball stay out of the centre pocket but it was not pottable for the English. They exchanged visits before Gray kicked out of a snooker to combo the 9 ball up table and back down again, into the corner pocket and give them a 6-3 lead.
Gray missed a long pot on the 2 ball on the next and the Canadians gave themselves a real shot in the arm as they reduced the deficit to 6-4.
Montal played a bad shot on the 2 ball to hand the table back to England and a superb shot on the same ball from Gray set up the run out and they succeeded to get to the hill at 7-4.
With awkward cueing, Gray missed the 1 ball. The rack looked a formality for Canada but Edey missed a shocking 7 ball but Gray missed a long cut on the 8 ball with victory in their grasp.
Montal missed a slow bank on the 8 and that left it on for Daryl Peach who made it to set up an 8-4 victory for England, who now meet Germany for a place in the last four.
