GORSLEY Chapel’s Joe Loveys claimed his third Herefordshire County Bowls Singles Championship title, defeating defending champion John Mills (Woolhope) 9-7 in a thrilling final at Leominster, avenging the previous year’s defeat to Mills in the process.

Some 27 players took part in a highly competitive group stage of six groups of four and a group of three, with the winners, runners up and two best third placed players going through to the round of 16.

By the quarter final stage, two players from each of Gorsley Chapel, Lea, Ross and Woolhope remained with one from each.

The quarter finals Lea’s Merion Attwood beat Ross’ Ian Roe 10-9. The second quarter final pitted Ross’ Gary Peachey against Loveys. Following a tight opening five ends, eventually Loveys prevailed 12-5.

Match three pitted Woolhope’s Bryan Watkins against Lea’s Terry Griffiths. Once again, another close game demonstrated the quality on show across the matches with the score level at 3-3 after five ends before Watkins gave himself a lead to protect and saw out the match 7-5.

The final quarter-final pitted Mills against Gorsley Chapel’s Anthony Chesterton. Following an exchange of scores to make it 2-2 after three ends, Mills pushed on to win 16-2.

The semi-finals produced two very different games, with the first pitting Loveys against Attwood in a nail-biting match as they traded blows throughout. By the sixth end, Attwood held a 7-3 lead before a three for Loveys shifted the momentum at a crucial time, picking up another three before holding out on the final two ends to reach his fifth County Singles final with a 10-8 win.

Meanwhile, the other semi-final saw Mills continue his ferocious form to win each of the first eight ends against, finishing up with a 14-2 victory.

In an incredibly close and competitive final, both players produced a high level of bowling in a match that mirrored Mills held a 6-4 lead following the seventh end.

However, as he did in his semi-final, Loveys struck back with a crucial three in the eighth before conceding a one on the ninth to leave the score fittingly tied at 7-7 heading into the final end as nothing separated the two.

Bowling first, Mills opted to place a long jack and attempted to ditch with his first bowl, narrowly missing the target.

A draw from Loveys applied the pressure to Mills who, with a slightly heavy reply, left the door open for the Gorsley player to pick up the jack and tuck it behind his bowl.

Leaving Mills with no clear shot except to fire at the head, contact with the front bowl was not enough to change the result as Loveys claimed his third Singles Championship, putting him level with Anthony Rogers and one title behind the all-time leader Ian Park on four.

The Herefordshire Short Mat Bowls Association gives its thanks to all those who contributed to a day of fantastic spirit and quality bowling throughout.