Glasgow 2014: Jersey miss out on first medal in 24 years

Jersey bowlers Lindsey Greechan and Katie Nixon missed out on the island's first Commonwealth Games medal since 1990 in a nail-biting play-off.

The women's pair lost 15-14 to Northern Ireland's Mandy Cunningham and Barbara Cameron in the bronze medal match.

Northern Ireland led after 13 of the 18 ends before Jersey pulled 13-12 ahead with three to go.

But Cunningham and Cameron won two of the last three ends to seal victory by the narrowest of margins.

The victory was Cameron's first Commonwealth Games medal in her fifth games and the duo's bronze means that Northern Ireland are guaranteed to bring 12 medals home.

Northern Ireland's men's triple bowlers have won a silver with Lisa Kearney taking a judo bronze while nine boxing medals have also been secured by the province's team.

"We didn't deserve to lose that game at all," Greechan told BBC Radio Jersey after the match.

"We thought we had everything covered and Katie had two great bowls in the last end.

"But they say you need a bit of luck and in the last few ends they had a bit of luck their way and it made the difference."

No-one from Jersey has made the podium since Colin Mallett won two medals in Auckland 24 years ago.

He won individual full-bore shooting gold before taking pairs bronze with his father Cliff.

Jersey had led 9-5 after nine ends, but a four-shot 10th end from Cunningham and Cameron restored parity.

They won the following two ends by one shot each before Northern Ireland took two shots to lead 12-10 after 13 ends.

Jersey drew level in the next end and took the lead by one shot in end 15 before two shots from Northern Ireland in the 16th end put them back in front.

Jersey levelled at 14-all in the 17th end and were on course for the bronze until Cunningham pulled out a fantastic penultimate bowl to take the shot which Greechan could not respond to.

"It's probably the hardest game I've ever played," Nixon said.

"It seemed to take forever and it was close all the way.

"In a way I'm glad it's over, but I'm absolutely gutted."

It would also have been Jersey's first ever bowls medal, having been one win away from a bronze medal six times in the last 12 years.

In the 2002 Games in Manchester, semi-finalists were guaranteed a bronze medal, but Jersey's women's four, men's and women's pairs and singles competitor Karina Horman all lost in the quarter-finals.

Four years later, in Melbourne, Gaynor Thomas and Sue Dingle missed out on bronze with the final shot in their women's pairs play-off against New Zealand, while the women's triples lost to England in their bronze-medal match.