YORK teenager Steve Gregson has shot to new heights just a step behind snooker maestro Ronnie O'Sullivan.

A magnificent break of 144, which the 16-year-old from Stockton-on-Forest made in a recent tournament, is the fourth highest on record in the English Association for Snooker & Billiards list.

Only three players stand above Gregson on the all-time highest breaks board, each with maximum 147s. They are former world champion O'Sullivan, current world number 37 Stuart Bingham, and Scunthorpe's Jeff Cundy.

Gregson made the 144, the highest break of his career, in a round-robin group match at the EASB Junior Tour event at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds.

"I potted 13 blacks, a blue and a pink in a complete clearance of the table," he said. "I was never on for a 147 because I took the blue as the first colour. It was a fairly straightforward break in which I just had to keep position with the white.

"It was great to make that break and to know that I am so close to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the EASB all-time list."

O'Sullivan's EASB maximum was made in 1991, Bingham's in 1998 and Cundy's just two months ago.

Gregson has met O'Sullivan at the snooker table. In 2002, Steve and his younger brother Lee both appeared on television being given coaching tips by O'Sullivan during the UK Championship in York.

Steve's 144 is the second highest break by any player this season in EASB events, the top one being Cundy's 147 in a senior competition in December.

The previous highest break Steve had made was 138 in practice, while his top break in tournament play was 120. He went on to reach the quarter-finals of the Leeds tournament. His first big ambition is to become good enough a player to turn pro. York firm Tile With Style are sponsoring him as he travels the country for competitions.

He and 11-year-old Lee have just started playing in a week-long 'Star of the Future' series of Pontin's junior events at Prestatyn, North Wales.

Lee played in an Under-13 event at Leeds and won three of his six games but lost a tie-break and failed to qualify for the later stages.

Last weekend, Steve reached the semi-finals of an U21 competition at Coalville, Leicester, where he goes for regular competitive snooker.

Updated: 09:59 Saturday, February 11, 2006