Memorable fightback from Europe
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Session Three - Saturday, Dec 13
Feijen/Souquet
5-1 St'kland/Morris
Tony Drago
2-5 Shane Van Boening
Immonen/Gray
5-4 Archer/Jones
MIKA Immonen and Mark Gray produced one of the all-time great fightbacks in the Mosconi Cup as Europe extended their advantage.
They had trailed 4-1 against an in-form Johnny Archer and Jeremy Jones but then won the next four racks to seal a memorable 5-4 victory.
It meant Europe won the third session 2-1 to move 7-4 ahead, only four away from the winning total of 11.
Debutant Mark Gray secured his first Mosconi Cup victory in the process. He said: "We played them (Archer and Jones) last night and lost 5-1 and didn't do much wrong.
"Again today we weren't getting the rolls but I knew if we had the chances we would take them.
"Luckily the US choked under pressure a few times. It's good to have someone like Mika's calibre as your partner and he's just won the US Open and Japan Open so it's great to have someone with that knowledge with you."
Mika Immonen added: "That's one of the best comebacks in my Mosconi Cup history. The crowd really remind you to keep the fighting spirit going. All credit to Mark he is a rookie but stuck in there and we were able to come back from 4-1 down."
Mosconi Cup commentator was stunned with what he had witnessed.
"I wouldn't have given Gray and Immonen a penny for their chances at 4-1 down and Johnny Archer and Jeremy Jones looked untouchable," said Wych. "But it was a good example of the European make up. These guys have come to play and not let anything get them down."
Europe lead 5-3 at the start of the session before
Niels Feijen and Ralf Souquet continued their perfect pairs form on the third day of the 2008 PartyPoker.com Mosconi Cup.
Feijen and Souquet had defeated the American duo of Shane Van Boening and Rodney Morris 5-3 on both of the opening days. But they faced a slight change of opposition as Strickland now partnered Morris.
However, the outcome still went the Europeans way as they won 5-1 against a pairing that hardly talked to each other throughout the contest.
The second match was a singles encounter between Tony Drago and Shane Van Boening and the South Dakota Kid triumphed 5-2.
"There's big pressure and this is a top event," said a delighted Van Boening. "Tony Drago is playing in his home town with everyone rooting for him so that's a lot of pressure.
"I played good and only made one mistake then I changed my break and that worked out pretty good so that's what I will do.
"The European team might have got a bit lucky over the last couple of days. We're going to try our best, I've got a lot of heart and I hope my team have got a lot of heart as well. We will show we have."
