BOURNEMOUTH teenager Reece King warmed up for the most important event of his snooker career with a first tournament win on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Silver Tour.

The 17-year-old defeated Drew Hampshire (Swindon) 2-1 in the eighth and last leg at Salisbury Snooker Club.

A runner-up twice in his debut season, King took the lead before sharing two black-ball frames with his opponent.

“It’s nice to get a win,” he said. “In the first frame, I potted well but in the second, Drew was an absolute machine.

“I thought Drew had it, to be honest. Fair play to him and I hope he does well next season.”

King, who works as a dry liner and is based at Greenbaize Snooker Club, paid £600 of his own money to enter World Snooker’s Q School where the four semi-finalists from each of the two tournaments earn two-year pro-tour cards.

As expected, Matt Gillon (Gosport) was crowned Silver Tour rankings winner. The 17-year-old went out 2-1 to Hampshire in the last-four but had only needed to finish no lower than fourth in his six-man group.

Joe Kitchen (Gosport) secured second spot by one point from King.

Group B contained four of the top-five ranked players alongside Ally Pollard (Alderholt), who had never before qualified for the knockout.

But the 18-year-old had not read the script and having been advised by nine-year-old Connor Shaw to “believe in yourself”, Pollard won three of his four matches to make the quarter-finals where he lost 2-0 to King.

The top-16 ranked players will be invited to Finals Day on May 17 at Jesters Snooker Hall, Swindon, for the championship play-off. Special guest Joe Perry will present the trophies and play exhibition frames against the winners.

TOURNAMENT BREAKS: Lee Fitzpatrick 43, Matt Gillon 38, Ally Pollard: 32, Reece King 30.

SILVER RESULTS – Round-robin Group A: 1 Reece King (Greenbaize SC, Bournemouth), 2 Matt Gillon (Stoke SC, Gosport), 3 Nat Kidner (Greenbaize SC, Bournemouth), 4 Lee Fitzpatrick (Totton Rec), 5 Lewis Parnham (SWSA, Gloucester), 6 Kaine Petty (Salisbury SC).

Round-robin Group B: 1 Drew Hampshire (147 SC, Swindon), 2 Ally Pollard (Salisbury SC), 3 Joe Kitchen (Stoke SC, Gosport), 4 Jasmine Bolsover (Woking SC), 5 Callum McDonald (Salisbury SC).

Semi-final: (15 points): King 2 Pollard 0, Hampshire 2 Gillon 1.

Final: (25/18 points): King 2 Hampshire 1.