PLAYERS CHAMPS 11&12: REPORT

Leicester has become the new home of the World Grand Prix but for this particular weekend, the Morningside Arena hosted a brace of Pro Tours.

As always, Stephen was in action and left Sunday afternoon with another relatively satisfying bunch of change in this pocket.

The latter of the two days was certainly the highlight as The Bullet came very close to a quarter-final appearance in what was a decent day at the office.

Kicking the Sabbath off, Stephen comfortably disposed of the Dane, Vladimir Anderson 6-1 with a very respectable 98 average.

Against Jimmy Hendricks in round two, both players struggled to get into gear but it was the Liverpudlian who generated the most speed, crawling to a 6-4 victory.

The board final against Demolition Man, Darren Webster saw a return to Buntings familiar high 90’s averages as he reeled off a 6-3 win.

However, the run was ended by the Aussie number one, Damon Heta who rallied back from 3-2 down to pick the pocket of the former Lakeside World Champ and advance courtesy of a 6-4 scoreline.

Perhaps Stephen’s most impressive display was the opening match on Saturday when he began a superb comeback from 5-1 down against Stephen Burton to steal a terrific win. That all began with a splendid ten darter as the scouser reeled off five legs in a row to overcome a shell-shocked Bertie.

Unfortunately, he then ran into a very inform Super Mario who ensured an early return to the hotel on day one.

A relatively satisfied Mr Bunting said afterwards: “I know I am really close to winning something. I just need to find that little bit more consistency and kills games off sooner when the opportunities are there.

“I have no real complaints about the two losses, both lads performed better than me in the match and they were fair results. But naturally I am disappointed as I know if I play my A game in those, it could have been a different result.

“But a last 16 isn’t too shabby and I will continue to put the work in and hopefully that breakthrough is just around the corner.”

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