Gould wins gold

One very happy Martin Gould

Martin Gould beat Stephen Maguire by 4-3 in Sunday's UK PTC Event 2 final, to win his first ever ranking title and although what was at stake was a minor ranking tournament I bet it doesn't weight less in the eyes of the 2011 Power Snooker champion.

It wasn't at the Olympics, but Martin Gould obtained the gold medal under the form of a shiny and glassy UK PTC Event Two trophy after one hell of a battle with the Scottish player who already won a PTC event this season (aka. UK PTC 1), Stephen Maguire.

But until the final cue-crossing, Gould had to face a numerous series of opponents and even though he managed to get a bye for the second round, due to Michael Holt's withdrawal, it wasn't an easy road by all means.

A 4-3 result obtained in front of a pretty stubborn Jamie Cope, a match that also marked Martin's first century break of the tournament (104), followed by an outstanding performance signed with a 4-0 result by playing Neil Robertson (and another century break, 113), only to get back from where he started and have a tête-à-tête confrontation with another tough rival, Mark Allen, confrontation that ended on a 4-3 result.

The quarter-finals match found Martin taking on Ben Woollaston (and register yet another ton, this time a valuable 134), meeting that ended with the "Pinner Potter's" 4-2 victory, victory that sent him straight into the semis, where Alfie Burden didn't stand a chance in front of his force and capitulated at 4-1.

Martin and Stephen, at the beginning of the UK PTC 2 final

And now, the grand battle between a player that had the best possible start of season, Stephen Maguire and a player that has reached the PTC final no less than three times slightly passing through the finish line, Martin Gould.

The one who broke the ice was the Scottish player whose break of 64 point brought him the first frame, Gould responding with a 65 to draw level at one apiece.

One more time Maguire put his nose in front, this time with a 40 break, and one more time Gould's response came without any delay, a 52 bringing the equality on the scoreboard.

But from this point on things changed as Gould managed to take the lead for the first time since the start of the match at 3-2, putting quite some pressure on his green baize opponent. Still, Maguire found no difficulty whatsoever to restore the balance of the match and force the most-wanted decisive frame.

It wasn't a brilliant last frame and unlike the others it didn't have any big breaks, but Martin found his way though the "wood balls" and won the match by 4-3.

So after quite the struggle in the last two seasons, Martin Gould's hard work has finally paid off, the 30-year old lad from Pinner grabbing his first ranking event title.