Nuggets All Gold As He Wins Royal Tussle Against King

Steve Davis rolled back the years & rolled in the balls , a cheeky little tickle into the left middle pocket in the final frame setting up a break to beat Mark King 10-9 in a first round match lasting more than seven-and-a-half hours at the World Championship. When he potted the ball that mattered The Nugget made an out of character show of emotion as he became the oldest winner of a match at The Crucible since “Steady Eddie” Charlton in 1982.
The 52-year-old lost the first frame of the evening to slip 6-4 behind but won four in succession before edging an absorbing decider on the pink.
The first frame of the evening summed up the tense, scrappy nature of the contest.Davis fluked a red along the top cushion but failed to capitalise, then missed another opportunity, but King also showed signs of nerves and missed the frame ball, before sinking a long yellow to leave Davis needing snookers.The veteran, who won the last of his six world titles in 1989, slipped the white perfectly behind the pink but inadvertently potted the brown to signal the end of the frame.Davis, playing in his 30th World Championship, compiled a methodical 54 to build a lead of 60 with 75 remaining in the next, before King replied with a break of 40.
But he ran out of position on the green, missed with an attempted long pot and Davis rolled in vintage long pots on green, brown, blue and pink to take the frame.Davis then moved ahead for the first time in the match as King was unable to register a point in the following frame. King missed a useful opportunity in the next, slapping himself forcefully around the face in frustration, to slip two adrift.In the 15th frame King, who protested his innocence when warned by the referee for swearing, built a 30-point advantage which he extended to 57 with only 59 on the table and he eventually secured the frame to reduce the deficit.As the match time ticked beyond six hours Davis made a break of 44 before missing a red at full stretch into the bottom corner and left-hander King calmly rolled in a clearance of 54 to level the match again.Davis responded with a superb 91, broken only when the final two reds did not split favourably, but King knocked in a 48 to claim a 70-point advantage which was enough to take the match to the 19th and final frame.
King had a good chance but made only 14, while Davis gained a slight advantage after a break of 27.King needed a snooker with just the pink and black remaining but in attempting to put the balls at opposite ends of the table he potted the pink and the match ended.

Bob "The Voice" McKenzie Twitter: @BobTheVoice About: