STEPHEN Hendry may be a five-times world champion but that did not stop Justin Smalley beating him off the table when they met recently at the Hyndburn Leisure Centre.

The 17-year-old from Preston's victory over the world number one was in an exhibition match but in five days' time he will join Hendry on the professional circuit.

Okay, the Hendry encounter was over only one frame but it is a record Smalley is rightly proud of nonetheless.

"I scored a 50-odd break and kept him pretty much off the table," said Justin, who is coached by Mick Caddy at Accrington Snooker Club.

"It was a nice feeling but I wouldn't let something like that go to my head.

"If the match had been best of 19 frames as it is in The Crucible I imagine it would have been a very different result."

It will be a very different kind of pressure Justin experiences when he goes to Blackpool's Norbreck Castle in June to participate in the qualifiers for this season's ranking events.

There is no more demanding apprenticeship in the sporting arena than the electric-charged atmosphere generated during these three months in Blackpool.

Aspiring youngsters like Smalley and those whose best days on the green baize were more than a decade ago, such as Justin's hero Alex Higgins, will attempt to make the televised stages of the ranking events.

Survival on the circuit depends on getting through to at least three or four of these and the 17-year-old with major ambitions is aware of the enormity of the task.

"It's a daunting prospect but I think that I'm up to the challenge," said Smalley who started the game at 11 when his sister's boyfriend took him to the local club. "There will be more pressure obviously than I've ever been used to.

"There's such a lot at stake.

"But I have the ambition.

"I've won the East Lancs under 19s for the last two years and was in the final of the North West championships last year.

"Now I want to establish myself as a top 16 player which gains you automatic selection into some of the ranking tournaments and, crucially, into the world championship as well.

"I'm apprehensive - wouldn't anyone be? But it's something I'm looking forward to."

A professional career may be slightly further down the road for 12-year-old sensation Justin Astley.

But the kid who is already beating experienced players twice and three times his age has big ideas of his own.

A member of Preston North End's School of Excellence and an all-rounder for Darwen Cricket Club's under 13s, Astley's major aspirations lie in snooker.

Last Sunday, against the odds, he defeated Howard Clark 4-0 in the final of the Darwen Hotels Snooker League's individual championship. He also won the recent Jimmy White challenge at the Hyndburn Leisure Centre and is the East Lancashire under 14 champion.

"I practice every day on my mate Alfonso Beluski's table and I've also got a pool table at home," said Justin, whose victory in the Hotels' individuals is unprecedented.

"I'm the youngest player ever to have won this event - I beat Alfonso's record by winning (Alfonso was 15 when he won the same event).

"But he still better let me practice on his table!"

Though he has only been playing the game about a year, he can already boast a highest break of 64 on a full-size table.

And, even at his tender age, he has mastered the art of talking a good game.

"Alan Shearer is my favourite footballer and I want to become the Shearer of snooker," he proclaimed.

Both he and Smalley are well on their way.

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