THOMAS Vickers remains the man to beat in mid Cheshire.

The Winsford bowler got his hands on the Roberts Bakery Cup for a fifth time on Friday, a deserved reward for his dominance on a night when even in-form rivals could not get near him.

A 21-12 victory against Castle Private’s Rob Winnington in the final, during which the Wharton Cons star won the first nine ends to establish a 14-2 lead, proves as much.

“I knew the first end was the most important,” said Vickers afterwards.

“Fortunately I played a good bowl to get in; Rob had left his a foot away, but I managed to beat it.

“I was in the ascendancy then.”

Winnington rallied to 14-8, a break started by the best exchange of the match to get off the mark, only for his opponent to conjure a moment of magic in a corner of the Spinner & Bergamot green to score two.

After the first end, it was a decisive moment.

Vickers said: “I think that deflated him.

“It was mine to lose after that good start, but you can never rule out a bowler of Rob’s quality – he can easily put together the same sort of break that I did.

“I just tried to keep my concentration, and disrupt the couple of runs he had.”

Vickers’ semi-final success against clubmate Simon Cookson, who had beaten dad Glynn in the last eight, followed a similar pattern.

The latter edged the early exchanges to lead 8-5, only to watch helpless as a brilliant break of 10 left him playing catch-up.

He picked up only one more chalk.

“I was a bit ropey at the start of the semi final [against Simon],” admitted the eventual winner.

“But once I got in, I played really well to get through.”

The 26-year-old had seen off two-time winner Jason Cornes (Castle Private) in the quarter finals at the Comberbach venue on a green that played true despite a heavy, late-afternoon downpour.

“It played as it looks,” said Vickers, who pockets a £300 first prize.

“There are bare patches, but they didn’t affect the bowl – they went where we sent them, which is all we can ask for!”

He is now closer to Glynn Cookson’s haul of eight finals night wins.

His victory also extends Wharton Cons’ sequence of success in the handicap tournament; only one bowler who isn’t a member at the Tin Mission has taken home the trophy since 2007.

Results

Quarter finals (handicap in brackets): John Brooker FRL (3) 21 Matthew Thurlwell Com (2) 19; Alan Vickers WhC (2) 7 Rob Winnington CP (2) 21; Glynn Cookson WhC (scr) 15 Simon Cookson WhC (2) 21; Thomas Vickers WhC (scr) 21 Jason Cornes CP (2) 13.

Semi finals: Brooker 11 Winnington 21; Cookson 9 Vickers 21.

Final: Winnington 12 Vickers 21.