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Veteran Leeds cueman Peter Lines produced a major shock by beating defending champion Neil Robertson in the first round at the UK Championship. With Australian Robertson out of sorts, Lines took full advantage and a deserved 6-3 victory thrilled the small army of fans who made the short trip to support him at York's Barbican Centre. At the age of 46, Lines lost his tour card in the summer after almost 25 seasons as a professional. He is nominally considered an amateur, although that does not stop him earning prize money, and he pockets a modest £5,000 for now after one of the best wins of his career. In a tense and error-strewn match, Lines forged a 3-1 interval lead and had to fend off a flicker of a fightback from Robertson, who fired breaks of 82 and 72 to close the gap to 4-3. But Lines held his nerve, and joins son Oliver in the last 64, after his 21-year-old offspring beat Martin O'Donnell on Tuesday. Lines said: "I've beaten a lot of the top players -- [John] Higgins, Ronnie [O'Sullivan] -- but this is probably the most pleasing result I've ever had. "It was a daunting task to play the defending champion. I wanted to go out and relax and at least give a good account of myself. In my heart of hearts I wasn't really expecting to win, but I did play quite well tonight. "I'm pleased with how I held myself together because Neil's obviously a fantastic player. Hopefully I can win a few more matches." He plays Chris Wakelin next, at the weekend, while Australian Robertson heads back to his Cambridge home. Robertson led the praise for Lines, saying: "I got old-schooled today. His safety was absolutely incredible, probably some of the best safety I've come across for quite some time in terms of him denying you an opening. He didn't make a whole lot of big breaks but he didn't have to."
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