Wayne Cooper drew first blood against Simon Bedford in the first of their two major finals this season.

A 4-1 victory in the Bradford Snooker Championship at Eccleshill Victoria Conservative Club gave Cooper a record-equalling seventh title.

The match drew a great deal of interest from the region and a full house saw Cooper draw level with former world professional champion Joe Johnson's record, held since 1979.

It was evident in the first frame of the mutual respect the players had for each other, with safety play high on the agenda.

This initially prevented either man gaining an advantage but eventually it was Cooper who took the key balls to go 1-0 in front.

Bedford started the second frame much better and held a 41-0 lead but then missed a vital ball, leaving Cooper to clear up with an excellent break of 81.

The third frame again became a battle of wits and it looked like Cooper was going to clear to go three up.

But a miss on the brown allowed Bedford the opportunity to pick off the remaining colours and go into the interval trailing by just one.

On the resumption, Cooper kept things tight and outscored Bedford to edge 3-1 up, before settling the contest with a match-winning break of 53.

"I'm delighted to have won this title and proud of the fact that I have equalled a record held by one of Bradford's great snooker players for many years," said Cooper.

As well as being runner-up in the competition, Bedford also made the highest break of 103 in an earlier round against Wahid Khan.

The two players meet again on Friday in the Yorkshire Championship final at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds (7.30), where Bedford will be hoping to even things up with his Bradford team-mate.

Tomorrow night sees the final in the Flexprint-sponsored Heys Trophy being played, with defending champions Undercliffe Cricket A taking on Low Moor WMC A at Great Horton Conservative Club (7.30).

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