YORK Indoor Bowls Club's finals night produced some excellent bowling - the pick of the encounters being the Gents' Singles.

Neither Stuart Smith not Neal Macdonald had won the trophy before and the game swung this way and that before Smith won out 21-18.

The score stood at 8-8 after 10 ends before a three put Stuart Smith in front only for Macdonald to respond with three winning ends to go 14-11 up.

Smith countered with two twos to take the lead again but Macdonald responded in kind to edge nearer the finishing line.

However, Smith hit back with a maximum four then a two to take the title.

The Ladies Singles was played between six-time winner Zoe Eagles, an England international, and Karen Russell, who only started playing bowls late last year. Eagles pulled away to take the title 21-3.

Dave Stroughair won the Vets Singles for the first time, beating Malcolm Lewars 21-11.

Stroughair led 8-0 after only four ends and, although Lewars pulled the score back to 10-6, two threes in four ends set Stroughair clear.

A close Vets Singles Plate final between Allen Clapham and Graham Instone took 27 ends to complete before Clapham won 21-16.

It was 10-10 after 16 ends, when Clapham edged clear with a two and three singles, only for Instone to reduce the arrears to one shot with a four.

Clapham then patiently moved 19-14 up and, although Instone gave himself hope with a two, Clapham took the silverware for the first time with two singles.

The Gents Singles Plate also produced some good bowling.

Nigel Macdonald overturned a 4-1 deficit against Coln Robinson to go 7-4 ahead and he did not relinquish the lead.

Robinson pulled the score back to 7-6 and later from 17-8 to 18-14 but a single then a three gave Macdonald the title for the first time.

The Mixed Knockout Pairs was also close.

Helen Wood and Alan Vowles won five out of the first six ends but only held a 6-4 advantage and Sue Allen and Craig Newton levelled two ends later before a single then a three put them 11-10 in front.

With three ends to play, the score was again level at 12-12, but Vowles and Wood ended the contest quickly with a two and a four to take the title for the second time in three years.

The Gents Pairs League play-Off final also proved close as Dave Dale's team turned a 12-8 deficit into a 17-12 lead with four ends to play.

Dudley Williams' team won three of the remaining ends but a three to Dale on the 16th proved too much as they won 20-18.

* ON Saturday at noon, York play Doncaster in their final North Eastern League match knowing maximum points could yet seal the title if results elsewhere go their way.

On Monday, at 6.30pm, York's Neal Macdonald plays Nathan Gallagher in the Under-25s Singles final, the same time as Helen Walker and Zoe Eagles play their Ladies Simpson Pairs final against Pauline Cooper and Lynn Tattersall.