World Snooker Championship LIVE – David Gilbert v Robert Milkins before Judd Trump takes center stage at Crucible

David Gilbert – Robert Milkins

Milkins still seems rattled and after a long stalemate, Gilbert finally cuts a red to get back into this frame and opens up a thin red with his next blue pot, earning a smattering of applause.

On the other table, Si Jiahui has finally got on the board!

This has been one hell of a bitty game (and frame) so far hasn’t it?

Milkins gets the pink back on his spot and screws back into a yellow, but then bites off more than he can chew attempting a huge cannon to open up the frame, misses and throws his cue on the floor in disgust!!

It’s yet another Gilbert foul – this time potting the cue – but once again Milkins can’t really capitalise, stunning the white on the red and though he misses the next black, it remains blocking the bottom left.

It’s a cruel game sometimes. Gilbert launches yet another long red to continue his form in that department, but his middle blue cannon inadvertantly pots a red to put us all square early in this crucial frame.

Milkins gave it all despite the big margin, but he’s eventually forced to concede defeat and now trails by three frames with just one more to go until the interval in this best-of-25 match.

Milkins handed Gilbert a tricky safety but he responds with the second laser-guided long red of the frame to just extend his advantage a little further before resorting to a safety. Whoever pots the final red will be strong favorite to win this frame.

A textbook long red is the cornerstone and finally there’s a bit of luck in this one as Gilbert’s cannon breaks up the cluster that Milkins threw so much at. It garners three pinks for The Farmer but he can’t close things out as he somewhat snookers himself on the obvious red.

At least Gilbert can’t add insult to injury by taking advantage of all of Milkins’ hard work… Until he misses a gut wrenching red and Gilbert can finally start break-building in earnest.

Milkins is desperately unlucky to be unrewarded from a superb powerful split, but recovers to put his rest potting record at 12 out of 13 now. He follows that up with another cluster cannon but once again it opens up precious little and finally that tells, as he jaws a middle red.

After a slight debate about where the pink is reset to, Milkins is up and running. Can he pull it back to 6-5?

The Milkman hasn’t always delivered today (or yesterday, or in round one) but he’s still here and he’s still fighting! He produces a positional masterclass to ensure it’s 1-1 today, which is probably a fair reflection of the imperfect play.

This could well be the match right here. Gilbert pots the final red but cannons the brown up to a horrible position on the baulk cushion and opts for the safety. He’s so close to snookering Milkins but just misses, and he then works up behind the green from his first pot to set up the open goal…

How to Transform a Table in One Shot by Robert Milkins! He fires the pink home and breaks open the red cluster too, before a sumptuous cushion-first red keeps The Milkman on his round. He can’t finish it off though, playing onto an awkward red then forced to take a tentative safety up the table.

Gilbert takes one, two, THREE looks at the middle pink but ultimately is forced to pot the safer blue, setting up a relatively simple mid-range diagonal red… That he misses! It’s yet another mistake, will this one cost The Farmer a frame?

Milkins refuses a red, opting for a terrible safety shot that allows Gilbert to take first blood instead. The Farmer wasn’t exactly inch-perfect either but has got away with it and he’s up and running.

Two blue misses decided that frame but from staring down the barrel of 5-4, Gilbert’s rescued his three-frame lead.

It looked like this was set to re-establish Gilbert’s dominance on the match, instead it’s right in the balance! Milkins gets straight to work, with a much more confident cannon splitting the central cluster and he thins a wondrously light red off the corner jaws to keep the break going. But after clearing up the baize colours, he can’t finish it off with a screw down to the blue just misplaced, and Gilbert can snatch the frame after all…

Gilbert nails three red-blacks but his cannon to break up the red cluster doesn’t carry too much force and his screw up the table lands too close to the side cushion. He cuts three successive mid-range reds to apparently regroup, but misses an absolute sitter blue into the middle jaws to allow Milkins to respond. that’s a true howler.

A straight red gives Gilbert an easy start this morning.

First up, Jak Jones is introduced to the crowd in this fantastic venue. He walks out to the Stereophonics’ Dakota, Si Jiahui is welcomed by Imagine Dragons and Demons. Got to be first blood to the Silent Assassin, surely? Both are outshone by Milkins though, obviously.

Jimmy White’s been giving his early analysis on this one, saying what we all know: that rescue mission in the eighth frame from Milkins was crucial:

The Milkman failed to deliver for much of yesterday’s session while The Farmer just kept on plowing to open up a 5-2 lead, but Milkins gave himself a lifeline by clinching the eighth frame in this best-of-25 clash.

Round two continues from the Steel City today, who’ll have the edge to survive in the Crucible? David Gilbert v Robert Milkins is nicely poised from yesterday, while Jak Jones and Si Jiahui also get underway in 15 minutes time. Then after lunch we’ll see Judd Trump, Tom Ford, Stephen Maguire and Shaun Murphy in action!

• David Gilbert 5-3 Robert Milkins
• Jak Jones v Si Jiahui

• Judd Trump 6-2 Tom Ford
• Stephen Maguire v Shaun Murphy

• David Gilbert v Robert Milkins
• Jak Jones v Si Jiahui

• Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-1 Jackson Page

• John Higgins 10-6 Jamie Jones

• David Gilbert 5-3 Robert Milkins