Steadman Storms to Seniors Title

Craig Steadman defeated Mark Joyce 4-2 in the final of the latest English Seniors Tour event at the Landywood Snooker Club in Walsall.

• Results

Steadman, who was recently crowned the EBSA European Seniors champion, continued his fine form by dropping just six frames in as many matches en route to winning his first English Seniors Tour title of the season.

A strong field of 68 cueists embarked on the Staffordshire venue, including event one winner and current World Seniors Snooker (WSS) world number one Dharminder Lilly as well as a number of former professionals.

The two-day event proved to be a high-quality competition, with ten century breaks compiled across the weekend including a high break of 139 from eventual finalist Joyce.

The 42-year-old Steadman arrived at the Landywood Snooker Club on the back of a fruitful visit to Portugal last month during which he was crowned both EBSA European Seniors champion and, alongside Lee Stephens, European Seniors Team champion.

Having also reached the final of the most recent WPBSA Q Tour Europe event in October, the former ranking event semi-finalist was clearly in excellent form and lost just three frames in victories over Mark Love, James Brown and recent teammate Stephens to reach the final day.

Just a single further frame was dropped by Steadman prior to the title match as he stormed past Jamie Bodle and Stuart Watson to reach the final.

Joyce was his opponent in the final round after he had defeated Ian Martin and Jon Wibberley on the final day to set up a meeting with Steadman.

A stunning break of 127 saw Steadman take the opener in the best-of-seven frame final, but Joyce hit back with contributions of 46 and 60 to move ahead.

From there, the eventual champion stepped up a gear to secure three consecutive frames with help from breaks of 71 and 52 to get over the line and take home the title.

The third event of the English Seniors Tour takes place on 23-24 November at Club 200 in Manchester. Enter now.