IT WAS Nathan Bridges' big ambition to become the first East Lancs 8-ball pool player to reach the professional ranks.

He's had a good season. But not quite good enough.

The top 64 players, based on rankings over two seasons, make it on to the pro list. Nathan finished 65th.

"I was a bit disappointed to just miss out," said the 34-year-old from Oswaldtwistle. "I knew I was going to go close to getting a pro ticket but missing out by just one place was tough."

However, he is confident that he'll make it next year as he will lose just the two points from his first season, 2006, and carry forward the 14 he won this year.

Another four points should be enough to put him up with the big boys.

Nathan, who teaches GCSE maths at Hollins Technical College, Accrington, manages the Lancashire 8-ball team and has had trials for England.

But it's only in the past couple of years that he's made a determined effort to break into the professional ranks via the UK International Pool Tour.

There are six ranking events during the season which runs from February to October at venues such as Wembley and Coventry.

Each round you progress from the last 128 earns two ranking points. In his last tournament, in Daventry, he reached the last 16 and picked up half-a-dozen valuable points.

Is he still kicking himself for the one frame or the one shot that got away and perhaps cost him that top-64 position? "Several," he admitted. "Every time you lose you look back and kick yourself. It can get a bit frustrating. But it's not as stressful as teaching," he grinned.

Nathan is also a top snooker player with a top break of 91 on the full-sized tables and a 102 from the ten reds of the small table game. He plays for the successful Stanhill team in the Blackburn with Darwen League and is always a first choice for the East Lancs team who play the Fylde in home-and-away charity matches each season.

But pool is his first love and next season he will be going flat out to get the handful of points he needs to become a professional and avoid the mad scramble of the qualifying rounds.