World Championship: Northern pride is the prize for rivals Sanderson Lam and Liam Pullen

Tour rookie Pullen, 18, and Lam, 30, both train at the Leeds venue but will put friendship to one side in their second-round qualifying match at Sheffield’s English Institute of Sport.

Victory would put the winner just two games away from a coveted place at the Crucible, with 16 qualifying spots up for grabs. China’s Xiao Guodong awaits the winner in round three.

York teenager Pullen – who bounced back from losing the World Junior Championship final to Halifax’s Stan Moody, to earn his professional status at Q School last year – beat Ukraine’s Anton Kazakov 10-3 in the opening qualifying round.

Pullen lost to Lam in Crucible qualifying last year, but has his sights on a first Crucible appearance.

“Sanderson beat me last year and there were no hard feelings on my side,” said Pullen. “It obviously isn’t ideal and I would rather play someone else but it is what it is.

“The target is the Crucible, for anyone really. It is tough though.

“Now I’ve won my first game I can try to get into the competition and aim to play some good stuff.”

On his victory over Kazakov, Pullen added: “I’m very pleased in the end, but a bit annoyed with how I finished off. It was a bit nervy. Overall I played pretty well.”

Moody fell at the first hurdle in qualifying, losing five consecutive frames in a 10-6 defeat to Mohammed Shehab of the UAE.

But Peter Lines – who along with son Oliver and David Grace, also trains at the Northern Snooker Centre – and Rotherham’s Ashley Carty secured safe passage to the second round.

Carty enjoyed a 10-4 win over Scotland’s Liam Graham, while 54-year-old Lines, from Leeds, beat Egypt’s Mohamed Ibrahim 10-6.

Both are back in action on Friday afternoon. Lines faces Scott Donaldson, while Carty, 28, must overcome John Astley.

Oliver Lines, 26, trailed Louis Heathcote 5-4, while York’s Ashley Hugill was 6-3 up on Sheffield’s Adam Duffy.

Both matches concluded on Thursday evening.

Grace, 38, was involved in a lengthy battle with Rory Thor, the pair locked at 7-7.

Jimmy White suffered a 10-3 second-round defeat to teenager Liu Hongyu.