No knees up for Beere after beating boyfriend

LUCY BEERE suspects the knee problems which reduced her to tears on day one of the island championship finals weekend probably played on the mind of her boyfriend Matt Le Ber as they clashed in the Press Open Singles final at the Corbet Field.

But Le Ber, 24, who was gunning for his fifth major title of the weekend, is not having any of it, putting the loss to his 'other half' as one of those things.

'I played well in the morning, but didn't find the green as well in the afternoon. She did,' was his explanation.

Beere, 27, had won their only previous competitive head-to-head, so it should not be seen as a great surprise she triumphed, even though Le Ber is in such superb form.

The first winner of the new open singles was just glad to get through the match after a distressing previous day when her knees were giving her a lot of pain.

And with victory under her belt, there was no teasing on her part.

'I don't think he cared, to be fair, he's not that sort.

'If he wins, he wins, if he loses, he loses. He's laid back. He'd won the ones he wanted to.'

Beere had ended the first day of the finals weekend in tears and wondered whether she would be able to play the open singles final.

'I think it played on his mind. It must have been hard on him to see me in that state,' said his partner, who was soundly beaten in the De Putron Singles final by fellow Vale player Anne Simon.

Beere considers Simon, who won 21-12, as a legend of local bowls and knew it would be tough regardless of the state of her knees.

The score was 21-20 when the pair met in a club match last year.

'I knew it was going to be tough,' said Beere, who in no way wanted to use her knee problems, which go back many years and probably flared up due to a heavy August schedule, as an excuse.