The highlight was undoubtedly his 9-8 triumph over world number one Ronnie O’Sullivan at the UK Championship. Despite being pegged back from 8-6, King managed to hold his nerve the better of the two Essex players to win the match.

Unfortunately, the low point of the season for King came in the following match, when he let slip a 6-2 first-session lead over Joe Perry to lose 9-6.

Seemingly, that collapse has affected the world number 20’s confidence and he has since lost a tight match to Stephen Maguire in Malta after beating Ian McCulloch in the opening round, and was edged out 5-4 by Joe Swail in the Welsh Open.

However, at least King’s place in the top 32 is all but guaranteed courtesy of his 10-5 victory over Adrian Gunnell in the World Championship final qualifying round. He faces a very tough examination against Stephen Maguire but the Scot has not yet won a match at the Crucible and the lefthander might just be able to cause an upset or two.

Prediction: Quarter-final departure