By the Third Mega Drive Championship Lord Dilks and Mr Smith had both established themselves as the best players in the tournaments. Yet for all Mr Smith's skills there could be no denying Lord Dilks's superiority on World Cup Italia '90 - Undefeated with an average score-line of 15-2. Although Mr Smith had scored less than half the goals of Lord Dilks, he was the closest thing Lord Dilks had to a challenger on Italia '90. In the final game of the Second Tournament they had played out the closest tournament game of Italia '90, a 5-3 result, with Lord Dilks the victor.

Lord Dilks and Mr Smith's rivalry had never been more intense than during these early tournaments. Each had claimed the title of Mega Drive Champion once and had proved to be near equals in skill. The Third Tournament was an opportunity for the victor to stamp some authority over the tournaments. Lord Dilks had been unavailable to participate in the second-leg of the Third Tournament and his games were postponed. He had slumped down the table into fourth place. Meanwhile Mr Smith had stormed into a commanding position and with six games remaining he was nine points clear of second placed Doc Shakib. Lord Dilks was the only player with a mathematical chance of catching Mr Smith, but the task was ominous. He would have to win all his remaining fixtures and hoped Mr Smith failed to pick up any more points.