Headington completed the double in a dramatic finish to the Oxford & District League Cup final with the trophy decided by the last wood on the final end.

The newly-crowned league champions, well adrift at the halfway stage, staged a great fightback to win a third title in four years against Oxford City & County A 66-63 under the Kidlington floodlights.

The City & County rinks, skipped by Paul Comley and Alan Ley, opened up good leads over Ian Snowdon and Jason King midway through the final, with their team 12 shots ahead across the four games.

Howard Watts’s four of Dean May, Ian Kibble-White and Gary May kept Headington in the game though, with their 12-shot lead against Chris Earl reducing the deficit overall to eight across the game.

Headington slowly turned up the heat and reduced the gap to just a couple of shots, with the lead then regularly changing.

With three of the four rinks having finished and Headington one shot ahead, a large gathering watched the closest final draw to its conclusion.

It came down to the last end between Snowdon’s rink of Mick Nash, Norman Rae and Shaun Claridge, with their City & County opponents requiring one shot to take the match into an extra end.

With his final bowl left and Headington holding two shots, skip Comley just failed to draw the shot.

Watts’s rink played the key role for Headington with a 28-10 victory.

Sponsor Sammy Timms, who is ending his backing after 11 years, said: “I couldn’t have asked for a better final to bow out on.”

RESULT

Oxford City & County A 63, Headington A 66 (City & County skips first): P Comley 21, I Snowdon 11; M Hancock 16, M Charlett 15; C Earl 10, H Watts 28; A Ley 16, J King 12.

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