almost four hours, before losing to Mark Williams in another final-frame decider, having never been behind in the match until the end. He then reached the final stages of the UK Championship for the first time since 2005 by beating Nigel Bond in the final qualifying round and was drawn against Judd Trump in the last 32. Dale led 4–2 before Trump had a large slice of fortune in the seventh frame by a pink. Dale would eventually lose the match 4–6. He also reached the 2012 PTC Finals courtesy of finishing twentieth in the Order of Merit. His qualification was largely due to making the final of Event 10, where he was beaten by Michael Holt 2–4. In the Finals he lost 2–4 to Xiao Guodong in the first round. Dale qualified for the World Championship with a 10–3 victory over Ben Woollaston to set up another first round meeting with Judd Trump. He led the match 7–6 against an opponent who later revealed to be suffering from food poisoning, before conceding four successive frames to lose 7–10. Dale finished the season ranked world number 23, meaning he had climbed 8 places during the year. 2012/2013 season Dale qualified for nine of the eleven ranking events during the 2012–13 season, but lost in the first round in eight of them. The exception was at the International Championship where he beat Graeme Dott 6–3, before losing 5–6 to 14-year-old Lü Haotian in the second round. Dale's best run in the PTC's came at Event Three by reaching the semi-finals in a run that included a 4–2 over Mark Selby, but he lost to world number 65 Rod Lawler 0–4. Dale finished 28th on the Order of Merit, just outside the top 26 who qualified for the Finals. Dale reached the opening round of the World Championship by dispatching Alfie Burden 10–5 and played Judd Trump at this stage for the second successive year where he was defeated 10–5. His end of season ranking was world number 23 for the second year in a row. At the end of the season, Dale gave a frank interview to snookerTV,"I feel like my breath is not quite as foul smelling as I would like. I've been eating foul food and haven't brushed my teeth for 9 years but I need to do more to challenge for the majors. Now if you would please