NORTH Ayrshire bowling ace Martin Williamson tasted defeat in a national final for the second year running.

The Irvine man, who plays out of Ardrossan Indoor Bowling Club, went down 21-14 to triple Commonwealth Games gold medallist Paul Foster of Troon in the Scottish Singles final at East Lothian on Sunday.

That came a year after he had gone down to Inverclyde's John Fleming in last year's final.

Williamson won his way into the final after sweeping aside East Lothian's Dougie Berwick in the semi-final 24 hours earlier.

The North Ayrshiremen had a good start and led 7-4 before favourite Foster fought back to square it at 9-9. Foster then motored into a 14-9 lead and when he moved 17-11 in front it looked like a foregone conclusion.

A disconsolate Williamson said on Monday: "I was disappointed to lose the final. I played really well on Saturday but did not do as well as I can on Sunday. But Paul is a great champion and he praised me after the match."

Foster said: " I was delighted to win and Martin played a great game - his time will come. It was great to win the title, especially with the World Championships coming up this weekend. "

He will line up in the Singles, Pairs and Mixed Pairs at Norfolk.

Foster's quest for glory gets underway on Saturday when he teams up with longtime partner Alex Marshall for a World Pairs quarter-final, with the semi-final following two days later.,

Next up will be his opening Singles tie against Englishman Martin Cheeseman next Thursday and the following day Foster and Englishwoman Rebeeca Field face Robert Paxton and Ellen Falkner in the Mixed Pairs quarter-final.

Williamson is now looking forward to the World Indoor Bowls Council Championships in March.