liam pullen was at the center of a furious Crucible night in Sheffield on the World Snooker Championship stage, where 2024 champion Kyren Wilson came from 7-3 down to beat 19-year-old Stan Moody 10-7. The match swung sharply after Moody led 6-3 at the mid-session interval and looked set for a memorable debut win. Instead, Wilson won seven frames in a row to end the teenager’s run and move into the second round.
Wilson turns the match in Sheffield
The contest began with Moody playing with real freedom, opening up a 3-0 lead with breaks of 84 and 91 in the first three frames. He kept that momentum through the morning session, adding two centuries of 110 and 101 to lead 6-3 at the end of the opening phase. By the time he extended that advantage to 7-3, he was close to a landmark result on his World Championship debut.
But Wilson, who beat Jak Jones in the 2024 final to become world champion, dug in under pressure. He pulled back the deficit frame by frame and then surged through the closing stages, with the decisive moment coming in the 17th frame. Wilson won it on a black-ball finish after Moody missed a chance to push the match further, sealing a 10-7 success in what was described as the best match of the championship so far.
Moody’s debut ends in frustration
Moody said the turning point came when he felt the match was in his hands at 7-3. “Just too many bad frames, ” he said. “I had the match won at 7-3 but then I missed the red to go 8-3 and he won it with three snookers.
“I felt comfortable out there, but bad frames like that hurt. But I will come back stronger. Hopefully I will be here next year. I just try to learn what shots to play at the right time and to miss less balls. ”
The 19-year-old, who is 44th in the world rankings, had earned his place at the Crucible through qualifying. On the day before his final qualifying match, he had been in hospital with tonsillitis, then discharged himself against medical advice and went on to beat Jiang Jun 10-9 with a century in the deciding frame.
Reactions after a match full of swings
Wilson said the fightback came through persistence after falling behind heavily. “I dug in deeper than deep, ” he said. “It was really difficult at 7-3 down and you just have to keep going to the well and I won a couple of really big frames. ”
He will next play Mark Allen, while Moody leaves Sheffield with a painful but high-profile debut behind him. The teenager was the first British teenager to make his Crucible debut since Judd Trump in 2007 and earned a strong reception from the Sheffield crowd.
What the result means next
The result keeps Wilson moving toward another deep run, though he also said problems with his cue are affecting his game. He said he intends to change it after the tournament in time for next season, adding that he has been fighting with it throughout the event.
For Moody, the defeat closes a vivid first appearance at the Crucible, but the performance showed why he arrived in Sheffield with growing attention. liam pullen now sits inside one of the championship’s most dramatic storylines, and the next phase of the World Snooker Championship will test whether Wilson can build on this comeback.
