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Monday, 15 November 2010
Perry plodding back to form
The increased amount of snooker being played this season has thrown the professional tour players collectively into the limelight and under scrutiny perhaps more than ever before.

Form of players is being analysed to the very finest point and, in general, players are being spoken about much more regularly.

Almost every player on tour has had something to cheer about this season, even if it's been sandwiched between other more disappointing results.

But one man who seems to have escaped the attention altogether is Joe Perry.

His performance in Germany at the EPTC5 event made me stand up and take notice, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one either.

On route to the last 16 in Hamm, he beat Matthew Stevens 4-0 and Order of Merit leader Mark Selby 4-2 before crashing out in somewhat disappointing fashion to Paul Davison, who he'd have fancied beating.

Nonetheless, Perry will be pleased to have finally made his mark this season, and can now look to build on this in Prague, although making it into the top 24 of the Order of Merit is still highly unlikely.

It's been a tough couple of years for Perry, since he made it to the semi-finals at the Crucible in 2008. That run took him to a career-high 12th in the world rankings.

But just when we thought the Chatteris potter might go on to reach the kind of heights his ability might warrant, he seems to have slipped into old habits where pressure and expectation seem to get the better of him.

It's been a recurring theme throughout his career, that when it comes to the crunch, he's fallen short too often. Don't get me wrong, I'm not questioning his bottle because he has won tight games in his career. Most notably in 1999, he knocked Steve Davis out of the World Championship 10-9 on the final black. But in these kind of closely-fought matches, he'll probably even admit himself that he'd have liked to have won more.

It doesn't mean there's anything fundamentally wrong with Perry's game. Quite the opposite. He's a solid player in every department, and on his day, he's capable of beating anyone on the circuit.

But it's just that tiny bit of courage that matters when he's become near real success and key wins. That's how I'd explain his dip in form over the last 30 months that have stopped him kicking on.

Expectation understandably rose when he become a Crucible semi-finalist, because I always think that making it to here is the mark between a good and top player. Winning just two ranking matches in the following season, and another poor campaign straight after has seen him drop to his current ranking of world number 29.

Now on the brink of falling out of the top 32, pressure is again being released from his shoulders, so to me it's no surprise to see him perform like he did last weekend, at somewhere nearer his best.

With little to fundamentally gain in Prague, I'm sure Joe will use the EPTC6 event as a tournament to maintain the form he showed in Germany, in the hope of carrying that into the UK qualifiers later this month. One win there will see him back on the televised stages and with the chance to pick up vital ranking points to stave off the next drop.

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