Alan McManus is carrying a flag for not only Scotland at the Betfred World Championship, but also snooker’s elder statesmen.
The 45-year-old from Glasgow is into his second quarter-final in three years at the Crucible, having at one stage not qualified for six straight seasons.
Since 1985 and Ray Reardon, only Steve Davis has reached the last eight at a more advanced age, when he knocked out John Higgins at 52 in 2010.
This year is the 25th anniversary of McManus’s bow at the famous arena, and both his finest moments came more than two decades ago – a pair of semi-finals in 1992 and 1993.
And this year he will take on either fellow Scot John Higgins or England’s Ricky Walden for another place in the last four.
World No29 McManus said: “Anything to do with Steve Davis I'll take, that because the guy is a legend.
“I guess he'll have been in his early 50s so he had a few years on me but anything you can do alongside the Nugget for me is massive.
“At 45 to get to the quarters I guess is a decent little effort. I'd like to go further but that's a few days down the road before I take care of that.
“My resurgence is just the simple fact that we're busier now as players, you are always playing matches and tournaments.
“It's not work, we're not digging roads here - I don't think I've had a day off in a couple of months, but I'd rather be here that's for sure.
“Any run here is right up there. There's plenty of really great players in our game that have never won a match here, but I still want to win and am not here to make up numbers.”
McManus is chasing a first semi-final appearance at the Crucible for 23 years – and remembers the last one, a 16-8 loss to compatriot and seven-time winner Stephen Hendry.
McManus added: “I only remember two things about it. I remember the piper piping us in to the arena with just the one table before it.
“And then I remember the first frame he smashed in a long red and made over a hundred and I thought 'welcome to the one table at the Crucible'.
“I can’t think about a semi-final or anything like that, as I have a very, very tough match before that. I'm just going to concentrate, play and see where it takes me.”
Photograph courtesy of Alan McManus