Wednesday 5th April’s LEH final could not have been anymore in the spirit of competition as the very best from Herefordshire and Gloucestershire faced off with six times winners Woolhope taking on four times winners Gloster Knights in what was the definition of a match of two halves.
The first half consisted of the Singles and Pairs with John Mills (Woolhope) taking on Steve Holdsworth (Gloster Knights) and Dawn Cox & Bryan Watkins (Woolhope) facing Scott Preece & Ryan Knight (Gloster Knights). The singles saw very little between the two competitors until a 4 for John put him 6-3 up at the halfway stage. However, Holdsworth retaliated on the following end with a 4 of his own and despite dropping a 3 on the Eighth End, pushed on to take the game 12-9. The Pairs saw the Knights look to kick on as Ryan, fresh off winning the National Pairs with clubmate and skip in the Fours Saul Featherstone, continued his fine form to help build a 9-0 lead by the Fifth End and despite some resilience by Cox and Watkins, Preece and Knight were able to take the game 15-2, putting the Knights in a strong +15 shot lead at the halfway stage.
The second half saw Woolhope needing a 16 shot swing in the Triples and Fours. In the triples, Shirley Cox, Matt Baker & Dom Rogers did their part for Woolhope with a 12-5 victory, reducing the deficit to 9 and giving the fours a chance at snatching victory. As the triples match finished, so Woolhope found themselves 13 shots up in the fours on the ninth end. The Knights, needing a score, went on the offensive and managed to secure a 4 to leave the overall shots level going into the final end. A nervy end saw the Knights get onto the jack, with skip Saul Fetherstone looking to have done enough, but a final bowl from Woolhope skip Anthony Rogers changed it all, taking the jack to a Woolhope wood and securing the shot, with Woolhope taking the LEH title in incredible fashion by just one shot.