Mindset in Matches: Breaking Through Barriers when Things Aren’t Going Your Way in Matches…Keep Believing…

The scorebook will show that I lost my match in the 2026 Team Cup Final at Oxshott – we’re still runners up with Oxshott A.

What it won’t show is one of the most important lessons I have learned in competitive snooker in my own frames.

The evening began badly. The first frame was one to forget. Nerves were present, the cue arm felt tight and I never really got going. It was one of those situations that many players will recognise. You know you can play better, but your body and mind seem determined to remind you that this is a cup final.

The second frame started much the same way.

My opponent settled quickly and compiled a useful breaks. Before long, I looked up at the scoreboard and saw just two points next to my name.

For many players, that would have been the moment to accept that it simply wasn’t their night.

I could easily have done the same. I didn’t.

After all, my opponent was playing well. Some of my safety shots were being escaped brilliantly. I was leaving him on the baulk cushion and he was still potting balls off the lampshades. There were occasions where I felt I had played the right shot, only to watch him find an excellent recovery. It was frustrating because the scoreboard didn’t fully reflect the quality of some of the snooker being played.

Yet something interesting happened.

Looking at those two points gave me a strange sense of determination.

I thought to myself, “I am much better than that.”

Not in an arrogant way. In a truthful way.

I have made 40 breaks in practice there.

I have won a league title and got to a doubles final.

I know what I am capable of when I trust my game. The challenge wasn’t ability. The challenge was believing in that ability while under pressure on that day. Sometimes, it happens – sometimes, it doesn’t.

Instead of worrying about the scoreline, I decided to focus on playing out the rest of the frame and forgetting the scores.

I freed up my mind.

I stopped fighting the nerves.

I trusted my cue action.

Gradually, the tension began to disappear and the balls started to go in.

The result was a break of 21 that clawed me back into the frame and lifted my score to a much more respectable total. Although I still lost the frame, I walked away with a feeling that surprised me.

O’Sullivan once did it in a frame towards the end of a frame he just potted balls, and it sends a message to your opponent that you’re not to be messed about. You can pot balls when your form is there, and you won’t let the opponent off the hook – if you get the chance the next time.

Rather than concede, continue to push on and to show your opponent your ready – next time.

I was disappointed with the result, but proud of the response and, in the end, the performance. Strength comes sometimes in resilience to fight out the struggling performances and build.

What pleased me most was that I had made my performance matter more than the score. Sometimes, in snooker, the scoreline does not reflect how a player played. And at times, that can be frustrating. As said, you can play the right shots and it still doesn’t go your way. That’s how it is and how it will always will be sometimes. You just have to get on with the next and go again and keep moving forward and keep believing.

Many people judge a match purely by whether they win or lose – that’s what they call a FIXED MINDSET. Yet there is another measure of success in sport – a GROWTH MINDSET: how you respond when things aren’t going well for you. This is what makes true sportspeople from those who just see it as a score.

When I was sitting on two points, nobody would have blamed me for mentally checking out of the contest. Instead, I found a way to keep competing.

And, to be honest – I’ve dealt with a lot more off the table so wasn’t going to be jaded by having a bad day on a snooker table in a CUP FINAL…

In fact, by the latter stages of the frame, I sensed the momentum beginning to shift. My opponent appeared less comfortable while I was becoming more settled. Whether that would have changed the outcome over a longer match is impossible to know, but it reinforced an important lesson. I was growing stronger – but it was too little too late in that match/frame.

Next time maybe, I’ll be FIRING FROM THE OFF…Who knows – it’s on the day.

The scoreboard does not always tell the whole story.

Sometimes you lose because the other player produces excellent snooker.

Sometimes good safety is met with even better recovery shots.

Sometimes the scoreline looks worse than the actual performance.

What matters is whether you continue to trust your game when adversity arrives.

MY 21 BREAK WAS A RECOVERY IN THE FACE OF FACING DISAPPOINTMENT IN THE FRAME

The greatest strength I displayed in the Team Cup Final was not potting loads of balls. It was backing myself when the evidence on the scoreboard suggested otherwise.

That is a strength I have worked hard to develop over time. It’s a lesson every player should learn from regardless of how good they think they are or where they are in the game. Because whether you’re a top pro or lower amateur – you’re going to come into situations where you need to pull some magic out of the bag and find something to either recover from a heavy scoreline or too claw yourself back into a match or to win – same difference – same principles.

The result may not have gone my way, but I left the table knowing that I had broken through a barrier. I discovered that when the pressure rises and things start going wrong, I can still compete, still fight and still find my game.

For me, that lesson was worth far more than the scoreline. I won on my own terms by knowing I can score myself in the face of adversity on the table.

Because in the long run, players who keep believing in themselves when they are struggling are often the ones who eventually find a way through.

Breaking the barriers – mentally, and on the table. One ball at a time.

Coaching principles are universal and apply to everyone…

WATCH: THE WINNING MENTALITY PODCAST