However, unable to find sponsorship in the wake of the sport's ban on tobacco advertising, and with only around six tournaments a year at that point, he felt he could not afford to turn professional and so remained an amateur.

[5] In the 2004 World Amateur Snooker Championship, he was narrowly defeated in the semi-finals 6–8 by the eventual champion Mark Allen.

[5] He participated in the Players Tour Championship 2012/2013 – Event 2 in August 2012 and lost in the first qualifying round against Ben Harrison.

Although he missed the qualification for the Main Tour, as 17th on the Q-School Order of Merit he could participate as a substitute for tournaments of the 2016–17 snooker season.

After defeating Tian Pengfei 4–3 in qualifying, he eliminated Mike Dunn, Mark Williams and Robert Milkins in the main round to reach the quarterfinals, where he lost to England's Shaun Murphy 2–4.

[4] Lilley later remarked that his timing was bad, as no sooner had he joined the professional tour then the COVID-19 pandemic led to the mass cancellation of tournaments.