Trusting himself lets Mark Williams perform at his peak when bums turn squeaky | Paul MacInnes

Williams’ triumph at the Crucible, and Charlie Austin’s performance for Southampton, showed how top performers shrug off pressure by concentrating on what they do best

On Monday evening I stood adjacent to history. Waiting for the delayed evening session, I was pouring myself a Britvic J20 in the Crucible press room when Mark Williams walked in. The 43-year-old was three frames away from winning his first World Snooker Championship in 15 years and prize money of £425,000. It was perhaps the most pressurised moment in his entire life. The Welshman wandered over to where I was standing and spotted a game of micro pool. “I’m good at this,” he said. With a tiny cue he lined up a shot, only for the gobstopper-sized ball to bounce out of a pocket. I didn’t quite know what to say.

In the end I gave it some crap banter about the pocket being hexed. Williams switched from top left to top right and soon the balls were flying in from all corners of the 25cm long table. I breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing I wanted was to destroy the guy’s confidence on a table suitable for ages eight and up.