Gerwyn Price swerves Blackpool bust-up backlash as he storms through to Betfred World Matchplay quarter finals
The Welsh star was delighted to get the backing of the Winter Gardens crowd after his fiery battle two days earlier
Chuffed Gerwyn Price was thrilled to avoid a Blackpool backlash as he stormed into the last-eight of the Betfred World Matchplay.
The Welsh star returned to the Winter Gardens stage for the first time after his bust-up clash with Daryl Gurney on Monday night.
Price was back to tackle Chris Dobey and instantly into the groove as he smashed the Geordie by an 11-3 scoreline.
The Iceman was given big backing by the Blackpool sell-out and Price was delighted about it as he said: “I think I played pretty well through the middle part of that game.
“Testament to the crowd, you know, they were behind me, which I didn’t expect today after Monday. But yeah, it was fantastic.
“That’s what I look foreard to now every game is the crowd being behind me. It’s nice and then I go and perform like that. I expected a few little boos, which I got, but I expected a little more and it was nice, it was good.”
“The middle part of the game felt like I couldn’t miss. I put Chris under a lot of pressure. I think he still played pretty decent in patches. I think early on we both were flying, but I was just pipping him on a couple of legs and probably disheartened him a little bit. It’s a good game for me.”
Price kept emotions in check to power through the line and added: “It’s definitely tough. I mean, I want to let my emotions go sometimes, but whether I’m 4-1 up or 8-2 up, which I was in that game, I can still lose. I’ve lost games where I’ve been 5-1 up, first to six.
"I lost to Danny Norbert in the European Championships a couple of years ago, where I was a lot of legs up. So I concentrated right until the end there. It was a tough game.”
Price’s success maintains his stunning recent run of form and, asked where the motivation lies, he smiled: “Just the money! And the ranking points, because I dropped down quite a bit.
"And yeah, just getting some money on my rankings more than anything. It’s one of the trophies I haven’t won, which I really want to win.
“I lost in a final of this, I think 2022. So yeah, it’s a tournament I really want to win.”
Price isn’t interested in upcoming opponents as he added: “No, no, honestly, it doesn’t matter. I go up every single time, play the board. I know it’s easy to say that, but I do. I go up, I play the board.
"If my game’s good enough, I’ll win. If it’s not, I’ll go home. today, it was more than good enough. I put Chris under a lot of pressure, but I felt like I was good.”
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