There's plenty to admire about Stephen Maguire

Quarter-finals
BBC2 & Eurosport 1, 1pm & 7pm Friday

The saying goes form is temporary, class is permanent and Stephen Maguire can prove that to be true when he takes on Joe Perry in the Betway UK Championship quarter-finals.

It has been a quiet couple of years for Maguire, who has dropped out of the world's top 16, but there have been some performances which suggest he has retained plenty of ability.

A run to the quarter-finals of the Betfred World Championship last year via the qualifying rounds showed that Maguire can still mix it in the big tournaments and perhaps the Scot's ranking has dropped because he isn't best suited by the short best-of-seven and nine-frame tournaments which dominate the tour these days.

There has been no lack of focus from Maguire and he looked in excellent nick when dispatching Graeme Dott 6-2 in the previous round. That was no easy task given Dott had played superbly when beating Judd Trump prior to the all-Scottish showdown.

You can be sure Maguire will play his usual attacking game and while that can leave the Glasgow cueman vulnerable if he isn't firing, there are few better exponents than an on-song Maguire.

Maguire won the 2004 UK Championship title and finished runner-up in 2007. He has the added incentive of knowing that a third final appearance this week will land him a spot at the Masters in January.

Joe Perry isn't opposed lightly and is a classy operator as the Fen Tiger showed against the excellent Mark Allen.

However, Betfred look to have taken a chance making the Scot a 4-5 shot it's worth backing Maguire to fire into the semi-finals.

Shuan Murphy is 2-5 to book his place in the last four after getting past Ricky Walden, but he is no good thing against Mark King, who has been in great form and is rated a 5-2 chance to cause an upset.

Recommendation
S Maguire
2pts 4-5 Betfred

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