There were East Lothian celebrations at Potters Leisure Resort in Norfolk at the weekend, with Joe Mower crowed under-25 singles champion.

The 18-year-old, who grew up in Wales but moved to Haddington last summer, became the first ever winner of the event when he beat fellow Welshman Ross Owen in a closely-contested final.

It took a sudden-death tie break end to secure victory for the 18-year-old, who works at Third Dimension Framing in Musselburgh.

And a delighted Mower said after the match: "It is a great feeling to win this title especially to win it here at Potters as it has always been a dream of mine to play here so to say I’m over the moon is an understatement."

The county resident, who lives just outside Haddington with girlfriend Kirsty, started the match in superb form and controlled the first set, which he won 9-4.

Owen, though, took the second set 11-4 and forced the match into a three-end tie-break.

Despite the intense pressure both players continued to play superb bowls in the tie-break ends, and after two ends played it was one a piece.

On the final end Mower had the luxury of having last bowl and when he went to play it he had game against him.

The teenager decided to play a weighted bowl which clipped the jack, struck a bowl, rebounded up the carpet and to Mower’s delight his bowl ended up being shot.

That was enough to secure the title for a delighted Mower, with his mum and girlfriend Kirsty among those in the crowd.

He told Courier Sport: "It is reward for all the time and effort that I've put in over the years.

"I've definitely improved in the six months that I've been living in East Lothian – playing with and against guys like Tattie [Alex Marshall] and Willie Wood has definitely made me a better player.

"I've got the British Isles Triples coming up and my goal is to keep playing well and hopefully make some of the Scottish events next year."

He thanked members of Haddington Bowling Club and East Lothian IBC for helping him settle since moving from Ebbw Vale in South Wales.

"The club have been brilliant and that's really helped me settle in – they've been very welcoming."

And Mower admits his weekend triumph came on his first-ever visit to Potters Leisure Resort.

"I've never even been there before, never mind played, so I was nervous at the start.

"Once the nerves went away though, I was able to conentrate and play my game."

And the 18-year-old has been inundanted with messages of congratulations since returning on Sunday evening.

"I've had messages from back home in Wales, from people here and even going back to work people were saying well done.

"There were people who've never watched bowls before talking about being on YouTube to watch the final, which is great."