Joe Perry has admitted he is lucky to still be in the Coral Northern Ireland Open.

The Chatteris cueman reached the last 32 of the competition last night after scraping past fellow Englishman Jimmy Robertson 4-3 in Belfast, and the 42-year-old was highly critical of his performance.

“I’m very lucky to be brutally honest; I probably shouldn’t still be in the competition,” he said.

“I played really badly. I was all over the place and played exactly how I did in the first round.”

Perry struggled to find his rhythm at the Titanic Exhbition Centre, failing to make a break greater than 50.

“Somehow I was able to get it to 2-2, then I was 3-2 down and Jimmy looked better than me and certain to go through,” Perry added.

“But from 3-2 down I’ve won two brilliant frames, they weren’t fantastic breaks but I didn’t miss anything and my safety was good, and I was able to string a through together.

“It’s probably down to a lack of time at the practice table, I’m sharp in terms of shot selection because I’ve played a lot of matches but not a lot of other stuff.”

Perry takes on Jack Lisowski in the last 32 today (17).