Borg's bold comeback falls just short

Three frames down in his European Champion-ship final against Mark Allen, Malta champion Alex Borg produced a great comeback to level the score at 6-6. However, his bold effort proved futile as his Northern Irish opponent won a tense 13th frame to win the European trophy yesterday in Austria.

Allen had looked well on his way to an easy win against Borg when he led 6-3, just one frame away from success. The first two frames had gone Allen's way, 14-79, 43-54 but Borg recovered to take the next two frames (75-27, 74-24) and get back on equal terms.

A break of 53 points saw Allen taking the initiative in the fifth frame, 77-41. He went on to increase his lead to 5-2, after clinching the next two frames 69-21 and 68-14 but Borg showed he was not ready to concede defeat, winning the eighth frame 86-12.

Needing just two frames to wrap up victory, Allen seemed to have made a decisive step when moving 6-3 in front (70-46) but Borg showed great character by claiming three frames in succession - 78-64, 72-31, 72-25 to send the game into the decisive 13th frame.

As expected, the final frame turned out to be a close affair as a mere seven points separated the winner from the loser (58-51).

Borg potted the brown and blue but left a tricky cut on the pink to the top corner pocket.

Needing just the one ball for victory, Borg however missed the pot and a grateful Allen cleared the remaining pink and black to claim the 2004 European Snooker Championship.

"I felt good going for that final pot, no extra pressure of any sort. Unfortunately, I just missed the pot and Mark potted a good long pink with the black over the pocket.

"After being 4-2, 5-2 and 6-3 down I think I did well to get back into the game and force the decider, which I could have won. It was just not meant to be, I suppose," Borg said after the final.

Borg, who was a member of Malta's three-man team that won the inaugural European Teams Championships in Latvia last March, had qualified for the final after a 6-4 victory over Dermot McGlinchey (N. Ireland) in the semis.

His defeat yesterday extended Malta's negative record in finals of European Championships. Paul Mifsud lost 11-7 to Stefan Mazrocis of the Netherlands in 1983 and, six years ago, Borg was beaten by Iceland's Kristjan Helgasson 7-2.