It’s personal as off-form Swail suffers another early departure

PERSONAL issues away from snooker have left Joe Swail philosophical about his ongoing poor form on the baize.

Swail has won just four matches this season, and only one since August, with his latest defeat coming in the first round of the Betway UK Championship in York. The veteran Belfast potter made breaks of 51 and 78 but still went down 6-3 to World No.18 Martin Gould.

The 48-year-old is still patiently waiting for a spark to turn his season around and has more than enough experience to know he must continue to battle.

“I feel as if I’m playing reasonably well but I’m just not turning it into results,” said Swail. “I’ve got to keep punching away — I’m getting close but seem so far away from getting good results. Hopefully it will change.

“I don’t know whether it’s because I’m not in a good place mentally at the minute — maybe that does reflect because I’m not doing the business at the very end of the matches.

“I’ve just got to keep punching away but there’s more important things in life than snooker, so we’ve got to soldier on.

“There’s a few things happening off the table and it’s very easy to put things into perspective.”

Swail will now turn his attention to the Scottish Open, which begins on December 11, where he will face young German prospect Lukas Kleckers in round one.

While Swail crashed out, Antrim’s Mark Allen cruised into the second round with a 6-2 win over Kleckers.

Allen made breaks of 81, 100, 99 and 104 as he raced into a 5-0 lead and although the German got two frames, the World No.9 wrapped it up with a knock of 72.

Watch LIVE coverage of the UK Championship on Eurosport and Eurosport Player with Colin Murray and analysis from Jimmy White and Neal Foulds