Dott in the driving seat
Graeme Dott took significant strides towards his first 888.com World Championship title - with the help of bananas and chocolate - opening up an 11-5 advantage in a war of attrition with Peter Ebdon at the Crucible Theatre.
Underdog Dott was given those food substances by coach Del Hill during the interval in an effort to sustain his energy levels for a mentally sapping 10-frame evening session.
The pocket rocket was also asked to dig deep by Hill, who had previously coached Ronnie O’Sullivan, and he responded in positive fashion to move within seven frames of first prize.
Dott will be aware of Ebdon’s immense reservoir of stamina and concentration levels, which were evident in beating Matthew Stevens 17-16 and then Stephen Hendry 18-17 to claim the 2002 world title.
But he is finally determined to step out of the shadows of fellow Scots Hendry and John Higgins to claim his first ranking title after losing his previous four finals.
The match was never going to be a fluent and open affair and perhaps the prospect of a tactical battle explained the empty seats in the 900 capacity auditorium.
The go-slow approach meant the first session was restricted to only six frames after spanning nearly three hours.
Ebdon had been in scintillating form for the majority of the past fortnight, combining rock-solid snooker with consistently heavy scoring.
But the Dubai-based player had been below par in the closing stages of his semi-final with Marco Fu, scraping home 17-16 after surrendering a 15-9 lead, and he again struggled against Dott.
The 28-year-old won all four frames before the mid-session interval and Ebdon seemed to have a negative mind-set.
It was not the performance he had been hoping for in front of his four children who had flown over from Dubai to witness the final.
“Peter has got to play attacking snooker,” said former player and BBC commentator Willie Thorne. “That is why he has done well in this tournament.”
“To beat Graeme, he has got to attack.”
Ebdon trailed 4-2 after the opening session and was unfortunate when play resumed to pot a long red only for the cue ball to drop in the yellow pocket after he had screwed back.
Dott needed no second invitation to increase his advantage with a 59 break which left the 2002 world champion needing snookers.
A run of 40 in the next proved sufficient for Dott and then a 31-minute frame nine also turned his way after Ebdon missed a black along the rail.
Dott again showed composure to compile a decisive 39 clearance to the black. Ebdon was making far too many errors and a 33 from Dott helped him to complete a pre-interval whitewash.
Ebdon needed to make a telling impact when the players returned to the table to avoid the danger of being cut adrift and he broke his duck for the evening by winning a scrappy 11th frame.
He then produced the highest break of the final to date in the next with an 89 clearance and was in the balls again in frame 13 before missing a pink into the middle when 45-0 ahead.
Dott held his nerve with a yellow to pink clearance in the next to re-open a five-frame advantage and looked set to pinch the next after trailing 52-14. But he left the pink over the middle pocket and then Ebdon doubled the black.
A scrappy penultimate frame went in favour of Dott, who completed a day to remember with a 48 clearance in the last to leave Ebdon with a mountain to climb.
