JIMMY Robertson felt the full pressure of the Crucible Theatre on Sunday evening as he let a 4-2 lead slip against Mark Allen in his Betfred World Championship first-round match.

The Bexhill cueman trails 5-4 against the 11th-seed after the Pistol secured back-to-back frames to bring himself level before smashing home his second century of the match in the final frame.

The first to ten match resumes this evening with the winner playing John Higgins or Martin Gould for a place in the quarter-finals, in Sheffield.

Robertson is making his third appearance at the Crucible having been knocked out in the first round by both Mark Selby and Marco Fu in 2011 and 2015, respectively.

This time though, Robertson started brilliantly with a 60 in the first frame followed up by a silky century to take an early 2-0 lead against the Northern Ireland potter.

But Allen battled back with 63 to steal the third frame after Robertson had again made a half century, before the Englishman did restore his two-frame advantage at 3-1.

Allen's first century of the match narrowed the deficit but Robertson, who came through three qualifying matches to reach this stage, responded again with a break of 78.

However, after that it was all Allen as he battled to two narrow frame wins as Robertson suddenly appeared to struggle with fluency and form. And the 11th-seed ensured he took a 5-4 advantage into the second session of the encounter with his second century of the evening – knocking in exactly 100.

Watch the Snooker World Championship Live on Eurosport and Eurosport Player, with Colin Murray and analysis from Jimmy White and Neal Foulds