JOHN COOPER, of St Clement's, won the York C&IU Bowls Singles title by beating club-mate Terry Wheatley 21-17 in the final.

Furthermore, with wife Pauline, Cooper also won the Veterans' Four Woods Pairs final 21-14 - Wheatley again on the losing side, alongside Paul Milliner.

Cooper raced 15-2 up in the Singles final. Wheatley clawed his way back to 18-17 behind, 10 shots over four ends helping, but Cooper scored the three needed for victory.

The Coopers got the best of the early exchanges in the Vets Pairs final before Wheatley and Milliner got into their stride to lead 14-12 with two ends to play.

On the penultimate end, Milliner held shot with a wood close to the jack. But Pauline, bowling particularly well, displaced the winner at the fourth attempt and laid four shots to take the lead which John increased.

The Coopers went on to score four more at the last end.

Railway Institute's Mal Bulmer and Peter Riley beat Holgate's Phil Reeves and Alan Phillips 26-19 in a dramatic Four Woods Pairs final.

A five on the first end for the RI duo, plus a three on the fourth, were countered when the Holgate pair bagged a five on the 13th to take a three-shot lead. RI won the next three ends only to go behind again at the 17th.

The RI pair appeared to have the game in the bag when scoring five on the 19th but the penultimate end was tied and, on the last, with RI holding shot, Reeves fired to kill the end and give Holgate another chance to score the five they needed to force an extra end.

The exact same thing happened when the 21st end was played again. However, Reeves was unsuccessful on his third attempt and RI scored two shots to win.

Meanwhile, in the last matches in the York C&IU Afternoon League, St Clement's beat Burton Lane to finish the season undefeated and retain the title.

They ended five points ahead of runners-up Railway Institute, who beat bottom team Holgate 'A' in their last match.

Evening League champions Clarence consolidated top spot by taking a maximum haul from their last game against Acomb.

This gave them a 19-point gap to runners-up Railway Institute, who finished with a draw against South Bank playing a man short. South Bank, in their best season for several years, ended joint-third with Holgate.

Meanwhile, Dunnington kept their slim hopes of snatching the York Amateur Bowls Association division one crown title with an 8-0 victory over Osbaldwick - the result relegating Osso.

Leaders Holgate WMC, fielding a weakened team, lost 7-1 to Haxby Road.

Dringhouses eased relegation concerns with a 6-2 victory over Rowntree and RI Corinthians beat Hull Road Park 6-2.

Poppleton returned to the top of division two with an 8-0 whitewash of bottom side Minster, although promotion rivals Shipton and Clifton have games in hand

Shipton went second with a 7-1 win over West Park.

Poppleton Road WMC's recent good form ended with a 7-1 defeat to Harrogate, Copmanthorpe beat Scarcroft 7-1, and Retreat edged victory at Stamford Bridge.

Only one game last Monday was not rained off - Shipton pipping Scarcroft on aggregate.

The YABA Finals Day was to be held today at RI Bowls Club, starting at 2pm, with the Singles, Consolations Singles, Pairs, Triples and Fours taking place.