Judd Trump was relieved to secure his place in the third round of the UK Championship after narrowly seeing off Dominic Dale 6-5 in York on Sunday.

‘The Juddernaut’, who did not even drop a frame during his first-round meeting with David Lilley, found the going a lot tougher against former World Championship quarter-finalist Dale.

Trump initially trailed his Welsh opponent 2-0, but he won five of the next six frames to seemingly put himself in control of the match.

However, Dale pulled a frame back to make it 5-4 and Trump then spurned two opportunities to win the match during the 10th, only for his opponent to go on to claim the frame and force a decider.

The momentum certainly appeared to be with Dale heading into the deciding frame, but Trump reminded everyone why he is a former world number one, as he recorded a break of 112 – the highest of the match – to book his place in the third round.

After the match the 29-year-old admitted it was relief to get over the line, particularly as the likes of Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy and John Higgins have already suffered shock exits at the tournament.

“I’m very happy with the way I got over the line,” Trump told World Snooker.

“I could have folded after missing that black and chucking the frame away. I really had to dig in, as much as I ever have done in my career.

“If I had lost after that I would have been devastated. When a few of the top players go out, you don’t want to follow them out in the same round.”

Trump’s reward for reaching round three will be a clash with fellow Englishman Mark King on Tuesday. The Bristol-native is priced at 1.20 to win that match, while King is available at 4.33.