PICKERING potter Paul Davison will meet Shaun Murphy in front of a packed York Barbican tomorrow after beating Gerard Greene 6-4 in the williamhill.com UK Snooker Championship.

A marathon encounter, which lasted more than five hours and over-ran into the evening session, was a gripping but nervous affair.

Davison declared the win was “as good a feeling as I have ever had”.

“It was a really good boost,” he said. “This win is in the top three highlights of my career and it is just fantastic.”

Davison, on arguably the biggest stage of his career, in his home tournament and front of fervent supporters, had to dig deep throughout the contest.

But while it may have lacked the free-flowing breaks throughout and the attacking play he would have liked, Davison called on grit and determination to somehow find a way through.

It was dramatic from the start. Finding himself two snookers behind in the opening frame, the North Yorkshire cueman extracted both and then sunk a superb re-spotted black to take the lead.

He got in first in the next frame, too, but jumped the cueball over the black after potting a red and surrendered the initiative to Greene, who took the next two to lead.

The match was destined to be see-saw, however, and, on the back foot, Davison showed his battling qualities with a superb 74 to go in level at the mid-session interval.

His opponent showed his first signs of real weakness in the next. On a break of 56 and looking like he was going to take the frame, Greene inexplicably missed and Davison ruthlessly punished him when clearing to the pink and a 41 break that once again gave him the lead.

Trading punches, back came Greene – notching two more for a 4-3 advantage. But while he was in front on the board, he was also giving Davison plenty of chances.

A mammoth eighth frame, which could easily have gone either way, was snatched by the home favourite following an excruciating battle on the pink.

Hurt by the setback, Greene appeared to lose composure and became increasingly rattled as a 40 break put Davison just one frame from the finish line.

With Davison now in clear command, the match had to reconvene later in the evening once Judd Thump had beaten Gareth Green.

Both players had chances in the last. Davison was in first, missing a thin cut red to the middle pocket after a 49 break, and Greene spurned a green on 43 when he looked likely to clear up.

The Pickering player then delivered his finest shot – a two cushion hit which sent the green down the table and behind the black, forcing a mistake from Greene and giving him the chance to claim a wonderful victory.