Mark Allen is using every event as a test ahead of the World Championships, according to Shaun Murphy.

The Northern Irish snooker star faced criticism from old rival Murphy for slow play at the UK Championships last year, before a U-turn to speed his game up in a Masters clash with the Magician. Speaking in November, Murphy accused Allen of purposely slowing his game down, with the Pistol replying: "The shot time means nothing to me because I try my best. I’ll never, ever apologise for giving 100 per cent. If that’s 32 seconds on one day or 22 on another day, I don’t actually care."

But tensions have now calmed and, discussing Allen's style of play on The Onefourseven Snooker Podcast, Murphy said: "I know I called him out a bit at the UK Champs for playing what I thought was overly cautiously and taking his time. But if you take that out of it then he’s playing in an incredibly tough style, and it’s bringing him results. On one hand, who is anyone to say anything about that?

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"He’s so consistent and he has a way of almost pouring water over the fire. No one really gives him a good hiding. Nobody beats him to nil, it just doesn’t happen. My suspicion is that he’s trying to build a game that will last the test of he 17 days at the Crucible. That’s my call on it. I think he’s trying to build his entire game of snooker around what he thinks will lead him to success in Sheffield. It’s the only tournament that he’s missing. It’s the only trophy that he doesn’t have. It’s the one he’s searching for.

"That’s what I think he’s doing. He’s almost using other events as testing rounds for trying different tactics and different styles of play. Today I’m going to play that shot like this and see what happens in a real world test. I could be totally wrong, but that’s my suspicion as he seeks to find the right mixture of play. The right amount of attack and defence that will take him to that title."

Murphy also revealed what Allen said after he scored a sensational 147 break at Alexandra Palace, adding: "He was very complimentary, very kind and very sporting. I think he said something like ‘you made up for the other day’. It was nice, and it would be nice to put that whole thing to be to be honest. We’ve been friends for a long time, I’d like to think that we’ll be friends for an even longer time and I’m sure it won’t be the last time that we have a disagreement.