Shropshire’s Adrian Gunnell goes head-to-head with a snooker legend on Monday – aiming to set up a meeting with another.

The 38-year-old from Telford takes on Jimmy White in Sheffield in a best-of-17 frames encounter in qualifying for the 12Bet.com UK Championship.

It is the first time Gunnell will have gone head-to-head with the Whirlwind, and the incentive for victory couldn’t be greater.

For victory over White and Joe Perry on Wednesday will see Gunnell qualify for snooker’s second biggest ranking event and a meeting with seven-times world champion Stephen Hendry in front of his home crowd at Telford’s International Centre.

“Jimmy is one of the greats and if you can’t look forward to playing him then you should chuck the sport in,” said Gunnell.

“To play Stephen Hendry – who is my all-time idol – at Telford would be fantastic so it’s a massive week for me.”

It’s also a vital period for Gunnell on the rankings – where he has dropped down to 50th in the world – and financially with the extra tournaments added since Barry Hearn took over the running of the sports providing a greater financial burden.

“The first game for Jimmy is huge for all sorts of reasons,” he added.

“I feel like I’m playing really well in practice so I just hope I can free my arm of the pressures and produce the same form.”

White progressed with a comfortable 9-1 second qualifying round win over Adam Wicheard, while the day’s other scores were: Ian McCulloch 8 Kyre Wilson 9, Matthew Selt 9 Jack Liwoski 8, David Morris 3 Michael White 9, Anthony McGill 4 Patrick Wallace 9, Bjorn Havevaar 4 Simon Bedford 9, Michael Judge 1 Xiao Guodorg 9, Andy Hicks 8 Dave Gilbert 9, Alfie Burden 7 Mark Joyce 9, Jimmy Robertson 6 James Wattana 9.