Dennis Taylor
1985 world champion on BBC Four

It has to be said, Chris Wakelin, he will be over the moon.

Mark Allen will be wishing him all the best in the rest of the World Championship, the gentleman that he is.

Chris Wakelin played an outstanding match and he goes through to the quarter-final.

Well played Chris Wakelin!

But no, Allen misses the brown when he looks certain to clear up. And it's all there for Wakelin now.

In go the remaining colours that matter and that's the job done for the Englishman.

He'll be mightily relieved, but he's thoroughly deserved that.

Allen sinks a long red to the green pocket, but he doesn't have an easy colour. In fact, he tries to play a snooker behind the black but there's enough of the red visible to Wakelin.

It's 49-27 with 35 points left on the table.

And Allen has another chance from long range. It might be his last shot of the tournament if he misses, but he doesn't!

"Wonderful. Wonderful pot," says Dennis Taylor, singing the praises of his fellow Northern Ireland player.

"They say in this game of snooker you need a bit of bottle. This man's got a lot of bottle."

John Virgo
1979 UK Championship winner on BBC Two

Mark Williams will take great stock out of that opening frame with a good century to boot.

With a stunning escape from a snooker and a slightly misjudged safety from Allen, all of a sudden Wakelin is back in prime position.

But he misses the pink! And it was a sitter.

And then Allen makes an awful mess of an equally easy red into the same pocket.

"What's happening?" asks Dennis Taylor in the commentary box.

Allen then almost drops the white ball in the pocket when playing a safety.

This is edgy stuff and it's anyone's frame.

After the re-rack Mark Williams flying out the traps with a superb century break to edge in front against Iran's Hossein Vafaei.

The Welshman was unable to put the icing on the cake after he potted the cue ball on the pink as he eyed a clearance, but a break of 122 was impressive regardless.

Two of the reds are parked on cushions, and it's far from an easy table, but Wakelin is plotting his way carefully and moving ever closer to that winning line.

But he's over-screwed from brown to red and has to settle for a 47-22 lead, playing a fine safety as he leaves the white tight to the baulk cushion.

Could Allen yet turn this frame around in his favour? He's back at the table, looking to win a safety exchange.

Wakelin has a chance - or at least a half-chance - to take frame and match here.

He starts off with a neat plant and is helped out by a friendly bump off a middle jaw that leaves the cue ball in mid-table.

He's in and building a lead... so what damage can he do?

Chris Wakelin has a decent chance early in frame 19 but makes just 11 before missing a red to the corner that he would usually expect to slot in.

Perhaps he actually is a touch nervy. There was a moment against Neil Robertson in round one when Wakelin looked to become rattled with the winning line in sight, so maybe it is possible to melt that ice in his veins.

"He's definitely feeling the pressure out there, even though he's got a six-frame advantage," says Dennis Taylor on BBC Four.

"Sometimes you get a little bit anxious [trying] to get over the winning line."

And co-commentator John Parrott agrees.

"Make no mistake, Mark Allen will be realising that Chris Wakelin is getting a bit anxious," Parrott, the 1991 world champion, says.

"He'll want to make the most of every opportunity. He doesn't want to make this easy for his opponent to get over the line. Why should he?"

John Virgo
1979 UK Championship winner on BBC Two

I know it's the World Championship and every frame is important but that's a little farcical. The players were reintroduced at 7:08pm and now it's nearly 8pm and we still haven't seen a frame of snooker, That's the bottom line.

It was so slow going, in fact, that Mark Williams and Hossein Vafaei have agreed to a re-rack.

That's the fifth re-rack of the match.

Michael Emons
BBC Sport at the Crucible Theatre

Image source, Michael Emons

Each day, members of the World Snooker Tour media team go through the newspapers and stick anything snooker related on the walls just outside the media centre and not too far away from where the players walk on into the arena.

Mark Allen's exploits today have already ensured he is going to be the story from Friday's play. Will those articles be describing a sensational recovery, one which would go down in Crucible folklore?

Will we see a second 147 too and earn himself £147,000? He's going for it at every opportunity.

Image source, Michael Emons

Slow going in the other match between Mark Williams and Hossein Vafaei after the former scattered the reds earlier in the frame.

Vafaei has a 20-10 lead in the ninth frame but it's safety shots galore at the moment.

Ben Woollaston and Mark Selby were beginning their second session at about this time last night, and the all-Leicester first-round tussle went the way of the underdog.

A delighted Woollaston faces Si Jiahui next for a place in the quarter-finals, having won a Crucible match for the first time at the age of 37.

Wife Tatiana was watching on proudly, but it was back to her snooker day job this morning.

She is refereeing each session of this Allen-Wakelin match, meaning there are two Woollastons in the second round, and wrote on X that she was "honoured" to oversee Allen's 147.

We took a look at snooker's married couple as they both make their mark at the World Championship.

You can read about them here.

"What a shame! Wouldn't that have been something," says 1985 world champion Dennis Taylor on BBC Four.

So no maximum, but that brings Allen back to six behind. Two more frames until the interval.

How will Wakelin respond? He seems to have ice in his veins.

Michael Emons
BBC Sport at the Crucible Theatre

The break comes to a grinding halt after 11 reds and 10 blacks. No second maximum today for Mark Allen.

Earlier today, 75-year-old Brian Nicholls won £25,000, which one of the tournament sponsors have offered a fan chosen at random in every session if a maximum 147 break is made.

Heartbreak for one of the spectators tonight who would have been thinking that they too would have received £25,000.

Michael Emons
BBC Sport at the Crucible Theatre

Ten reds and 10 blacks. Allen still going.

Michael Emons
BBC Sport at the Crucible Theatre

Mark Allen has one 147 to his name today, he is on seven reds and six blacks. Two 147s in this tournament gets him £147,000.

This could be an even more amazing day of action.

That's one back for Allen, with the audience clearly willing him to make a fight of it tonight.

A break of 74 from the man from Antrim does the job nicely in the opener.

He'd love to get to the interval and at least make Wakelin begin to doubt himself, but that's an awfully long way off.

Anon: In relation to the left handed snooker players question, I'm no expert, but I know for a fact you don't necessarily have to be left handed to play that way. I am completely right handed, but can't hold a snooker cue with my right hand to save my life! Only the left works for me