WINKLEBURY potting wizard Mickey Joyce has compiled his first half-century break - and he is still only nine-years-old.

The young snooker star started playing at the age of six-and-a-half and he stunned onlookers at The Academy in Basingstoke with his super break in a best of nine frame match against his father Eamon Joyce.

The achievement also earned the Winklebury Junior School pupil a £20 reward and his father Eamon said: “I gave him an extra incentive of £2 if he beats his highest break and if he ever got to 50, which I thought was a few years away, I would give him £20.

The nine-year-old, whose favourite player is Judd Trump, had a highest break of 33 before the game.

Eamon added: “It certainly was not easy as he was losing position, but he kept going and before we knew it he had made 51. I put my hand straight into my pocket and gave him the money as he made me very proud.”

Mickey said: “My dad was winning 2-0 but then I came back to make it 5-2. In the last frame I got the 51 break and I had to work for it.”

The young player is coached at Cuestars in Chandler’s Ford and is in action this weekend in the latest round of the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Bronze Tour in Bournemouth.

In his previous two outings in the competition he was a losing semi-finalist at Salisbury and made the last eight in Woking.