ANDY Thornton reigned supreme in the ninth staging of the the Johnston Recruitment Singles competition.

After a great performance in reaching the last eight at the Waterloo tournament in Blackpool, Thornton brought his A-game to Dalton CC.

Beginning his route to the final saw him produce a first-round win over Shaun Taylor by the comfortable margin of 21-7.

This was followed by another somewhat surprisingly easy 21-10 win over Darren Woodend.

His quarter-final with Paul Lewis was close early on, but from seven-across Thornton cruised clear to won 21-9.

In the semi-finals he played Chris Johnson who himself had cruised to this stage. Thornton led 13-3, but Johnson levelled at 13-13 bowling a short mark very well.

However, a loose lead let Thornton in and he ran out 21-13 victor

Ian France was to be Thornton’s opponent in the final.

Bowling superbly all day he came from 15-18 down in the first round versus Roy Moxham to run out before beating Dave Jones in another tremendous game 21-17.

France’s quarter-final was possibly the game of the day. In a display of quality he edged out Billy Thornton 21-19.

His semi-final was to be against one of the locals best and toughest opponents in Tony Whitehouse.

But once again bowling superbly it was France who reached the final with a 21-15 win.

The final itself was another good game but in truth France just didn’t lead as consistently as he had earlier in the day and Thornton jumped in at every opportunity.

There was a glimmer of hope at 16-9, but Thornton played a runner punching France’s counting wood out and taking two, France did get another four chalks but it was Thornton’s title after a great display of bowling.

Des Johnston and sister Sharon have generously sponsored this event since its outset in 2009 and the bowling committee at Dalton CC are indebted to their sponsorship of this top singles competition in the bowling calendar. Many thanks to all who entered and those who supported and worked on the day.