Northern Ireland players Mark Allen and Jordan Brown to face each other in first round of UK Championship in York

Both hailing from Antrim, the close friends will play each other at 1pm at the York Barbican after Brown progressed from the qualifying round, beating Zak Surety 6-3.

It will be the first time they have met on the professional tour and Brown – who has struggled to recapture the form that took him to victory in the 2021 Welsh Open – said they will “both want to beat each other”.

"That's the luck of the draw, it had to happen some time," Brown said.

"There will be a bit of stick between us over the next couple of days. But we'll both want to beat each other, we will be professional and get on with it."

Meanwhile, Jimmy White will face Welshman Ryan Day when he marks his first appearance in the final stages of the event in over a decade on Saturday evening.

The 60-year-old White stormed through four rounds of qualifying, including a 6-4 upset win over Stephen Maguire and a 6-1 success against Dominic Dale.

White last qualified for the event in 2010, although he competed in the tournament subsequently when it adopted a flat 128-player draw.

White is the oldest player to qualify for the last 32 since Eddie Charlton in 1993, and this year marks the 30th anniversary of the only time he won the tournament in 1992.

In-form Day has muscled his way back into the world’s top 16 after beating Allen to win the British Open in Milton Keynes last month.