 In their match, Bales again led 4–2 but went on to lose 5–4.Although he began the following season inside the top 64 of the rankings, at 57th, Bales earned only £1,695 in prize money during 1986–87, due to a sole last-32 finish which came at the International Open; he had beaten Fred Davis 5–4 and Kirk Stevens 5–3 to qualify, but was eliminated 1–5 by Wilson.Over the course of the next five years, Bales' ranking declined steadily as he was able to produce only intermittently good results.