ANTHONY Rice faces a taxing time over the next few months in his bid to mark his final season on a junior snooker circuit with a first title.

Back-to-back tournaments wins has taken the 20-year-old from Fordingbridge clear at the top of the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Gold Tour rankings.

He followed up his success in Salisbury earlier this month with victory in the third leg at Jesters SC, Swindon.

Rice, a tax assistant at Total Tax and Accounts in his home town, defeated Aidan Murphy 2-0 in the final of the event sponsored by Cube Property Holdings.

Last season’s Gold Tour championship play-off winner reckons it’ll be tough to bow out with the title but he was pleased with his ability to pinch frames from under the noses of his opponents.

He said: “It would be nice to win the Gold Tour rankings given that it’s my last season. That said, it’s still very early on and there’s a lot of snooker to be played between now and then.

“The standard is solid throughout and I really can lose to anyone, especially given such a short format.

“What was most pleasing for me was the number of frames that I won that I should have lost.

“In both frames of the semi-final I came from behind. And in both frames in the final, Aidan took an early lead.

“I find it just as satisfying to steal a frame that I have no right to win as I do winning a frame in one visit.”

Reflecting on work demands, he added: “Having start a new job with January (self-assessment tax deadline) coming so quickly, I have very little time to practise so confidence counts for a lot.”

Rice leads beaten semi-finalist Bradley Cowdroy (Bournemouth) by ten points.

Fourth-placed Steven Hughes (Chandler’s Ford) lost 2-1 to Rice in the last-eight. Dan Sykes (Chandlers Ford) went out at the same stage, 2-1 to Cowdroy.

In Bronze, leg-two winner Riccardo Drayton (Chandler’s Ford) lost 2-1 in the semi-finals to Samuel Laxton (Portsmouth), the eventual tournament winner.

And eight-year-old O’Shay Scott (Eastleigh) went out 2-0 to rankings leader Ronnie Sullivan (London).

Oliver Sykes (Chandler’s Ford), who beat Rice 2-0 in the group stages, finished runner-up in the plate competition for non-qualifiers.