World Championship: Amazing journey to Crucible debuts for Yorkshire rivals Liam Pullen and Stan Moody

But that competitive streak has now matured into a healthy rivalry, which resulted in a ‘special moment’ this week.

Within 10 minutes of Halifax teenager Moody securing his spot in the Halo World Championship – which starts today – after beating China’s Jiang Jun 10-9 in the final round of qualifiers on Judgment Day, York’s Pullen had followed suit with a 10-8 win against Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham.

It is the culmination of over a decade of hard graft for the young Yorkshiremen, widely regarded as two of the most exciting prospects of their generation.

The only surprise is they won’t be playing on the same day in Sheffield.

Nineteen year-old Moody plays 2024 world champion Kyren Wilson on Monday, while Pullen, 20, faces Chris Wakelin on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“Stan messaged me this morning, he said ‘I still can’t believe it mate’,” Pullen told The Yorkshire Post. “I am the same, it’s just weird how the two of us, we have grown up together since we were 10.

“It’s weird how life works. I can guarantee that, as kids, we both wouldn’t have thought we would make our Crucible debuts in the same year.

“I said to him, and he agreed with me, it would have been quite weird if one of us was there and the other one wasn’t. The other player would have been left out, and really sad about it.

“It's just funny, how we both qualified for the Crucible 10 minutes apart. It was quite a nice moment, very special.”

Both players are learning their trade in the professional ranks, and have seen their rivalry over the years develop into a competitive friendship.

“I think Stan will agree, when we were like 12, 13, we hated the guts out of each other, to be honest,” said Pullen. “Absolute enemies.

“And I suppose on the table, we still are enemies.

“But now we can talk to each other. We respect each other. And we both know it's something great to have and cherish, really.

“Look at it the right way. I think Judd (Trump) said it before, ‘I think it's good that they've got someone to spur each other on, like a rivalry’.”

World No 86 Pullen had to win four qualifying matches at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield – Moody only had to win two due to his higher world ranking of 44 – to secure a Crucible debut.

“It’s very strange, it hasn’t sunk in yet,” said Pullen. “It is a dream come true, but I am going there to carry on the tournament. I am not just happy to turn up there.

“My phone's gone mad. I'm having to apologise for replying to people late. I've never had to do it before. But, yeah, the phone's just gone boom.”

Before beating Saengkham, Pullen knocked out World Open winner Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Amir Sarkhosh and Shoot Out champion Alfie Burden in the qualifiers.

But when he trailed 5-1 to Burden in the first round of qualifying, Pullen – who is now based in Walsall – admits reaching the Crucible seemed far, far away.

“I was not thinking about the Crucible at that point,” said Pullen, a quarter-finalist at this season’s Xi'an Grand Prix in China. “Thinking back to that, Alfie missed a green – looking back on it now, that was absolutely huge – but in the moment, you don’t think anything of it really.

“I just had to keep on fighting. Even though I ended up clearing up and winning that frame, I was still 5-2 down and he was still flying.

“He played really well and it was a really hard first-round match. That was probably one of the toughest draws I could have got – he played unbelievable.

“I wasn’t thinking about the Crucible, especially during the first two matches. Beating Un-Nooh, I thought that was a really hard draw.

“Noppon too, he played great. I thought I threw the lot at him and he kept on clearing up, making big clearances. I am thinking ‘oh my God, will he go away?’”

Pullen raced into a 5-2 lead against Saengkham, knocking in breaks of 58, 131, 54, 105 and 83, only to lose the last two frames of the morning session to lead 5-4.

“I was really annoyed to come out 5-4, to be fair,” he reflected. “I have actually played better than that, funnily enough it was against Noppon as well. In Xi’an (Grand Prix), in the last 32, I played really well against him out there and beat him 5-0. He only scored 24 points.

“That was probably my best ever performance, I'd say, for a match. But to do it on Judgement Day, when it matters most, that was good.”

Pullen returned to Sheffield’s English Institute of Sport in the evening to take an 8-5 lead, was pegged back to 8-8, but held his nerve to clinch a 10-8 win.

“At 8-5, I felt great, you know,” he said. “I could even have gone 8-4, but I missed a red, I was flying at that stage.

“The game, the momentum, sort of changed at 8-5, I didn’t do anything wrong to go 8-6, even 8-7. But at 8-7, I missed the easiest red you have ever seen.

“The crowd cheered just as I have gone through and, honestly, I jumped.

“I got scared. I was like, ‘what the hell?’

“But then, I ended up being 20 ahead and have potted the last red, flicked off the brown and gone in-off. It goes 8-8 and I'm thinking, ‘this ain't my day’.

“Somehow I have managed to stick in there, I don’t know how.

“I am just thinking ‘try your best, stay present. Don’t think about the future’,” he added.

“Because, obviously, it was quite easy to think about the future at 7-4, 8-5, thinking, ‘oh, I'm going to be at the Crucible’ sort of thing. I know I'm not going to be. It's just weird in that moment, you start to get excited.

“You get ahead of yourself. And you just need to be focused on the now. But it's easier said than done.”