Dan facing second semi!

Cartwright and his support team from Shrewsbury ABC thought victory over Bishop's Auckland Blake Stanbra would be enough to reach the final of the Junior Novice ABA Championships.

But, despite edging past Stanbra by the narrowest possible margin in Newcastle on Sunday, it emerged Cartwright has now reached the last four in the country.

"It's crazy," said Shrewsbury ABC coach Brian Robb.

"We were told it was a national semi-final, we won and now we are told we are in a national semi-final!" he added.

"Dan has boxed five times in total and three times since he became the Midlands champion and we are still not in the final."

Cartwright will now meet Aaron Calvert, of the Bradford-based Karmand club, in Sunday's semi-final at the Excel Sports Arena in Bolton.

And he knows he will have to improve on his lacklustre performance last weekend after edging past Stanbra.

The scores were tied at 5-5 at the end of the three rounds.

But on the countback system - worked out by removing the highest and lowest scores and adding the three remaining scores together - Carwright edged it 11-10.

"I thought it was evenly contested but that Dan had done enough," said Robb.

"Dan just wasn't himself though. Whether it was the long journey or because Stanbra didn't let him perform I don't know, Dan just didn't turn up on the day.

"But at least he is still in and hopefully he can perform as we know he can next week."

Stanbra actually led 1-0 and 3-2 at the end of the first two rounds, but Cartwright produced a good last round to get back on level terms to progress.

By JAMES GARRISON