Snooker's very own escapologist Fergal O'Brien survived one of the closest encounters of his career to reach the last eight of the Liverpool Victoria UK Championship in Bournemouth.

Dubliner O'Brien stunned Welshman Matthew Stevens 9-8 in an epic 366-minute nail-biter.

O'Brien fought back from 7-2 down to level at seven-all. And then when Stevens, twice a UK runner-up, pulled away to lead 8-7 and 71-0 the Irish number two found yet another escape route.

He drew level at 8-8, taking the 16th frame on the black and then led 61-0 in the decider.

However, he stumbled within sight of the winning post and last season's world finalist threatened to pull the match out of the fire.

He was eventually left requiring snookers and though he managed to gain a couple, O'Brien extricated himself and eventually won a 52-minute decider 68 points to 46.

"It was a real humdinger," admitted O'Brien who now plays Mark Williams, the defending champion, or Hong Kong's Marco Fu.

"I'm just pleased I dug in and it proves if you don't hang in there you never know what might happen.

A miracle

"At 6-2 down I knew it wasn't like a football match where you could run the clock down. Matthew had to win three frames and that gave me a little bit of a chance."

Stevens allowed O'Brien just one point in the first frame of the second session to stretch his advantage to 7-2. He led 45-0 in frame 10 only to miss a routine black.

O'Brien drew strength from the error and slowly began to reel in the Welshman despite only one half century break in the next seven frames.

"I would have bitten someone's hand off to beat Matthew 9-8 at any time but to do it from 7-2 down is a miracle."

World number six, Stevens, from Carmarthen said: "I'm gutted. At 7-2 it was just a stroll in the park but it all went wrong.

"I had enough chances to win the match but I couldn't finish him off."