 He finished the season ranked world number 59, dropping 17 places from his starting point, but still inside the top 64 who retain their places for the 2012–13 season.Joyce failed to qualify for any of the first four ranking events of the season, but then defeated Andy Hicks and Jamie Cope to reach the UK Championship.At the event in York, the world number 50 Joyce pulled off a major shock by coming back from 2–5 down to knock out the world number one Judd Trump 6–5.