BOURNEMOUTH'S Bradley Cowdroy was runner-up in the ninth leg of the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Gold Tour at Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club.

He suffered a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Basingstoke's Mickey Joyce who pocketed £70 in prize money and his second winner’s trophy of the season.

Cowdroy, 15, extracted the penalty points from the required snooker in the third frame but Joyce secured victory with a tricky half-ball black into the green pocket.

Beaten by Jamie Wilson (Havant) and Anthony Rice (Fordingbridge) in his four-man round-robin group in the Pitman Training Winchester-sponsored event, Joyce qualified for the knockout in second place by one frame.

And he was 1-0 down in the last eight to Dan Sykes (Chandler’s Ford), who recorded the highest Gold break of 75 in that frame, and to Londoner Adam Stacey in the semi-finals.

Joyce, who is sponsored by The Academy, Basingstoke and Surrey-based Falcon Pools has recently signed for the Hampshire Under-23 pool team because he enjoys the razzmatazz of the game.

The 10th and final leg is on Sunday, April 30, at Salisbury Snooker Club.

Breaks: Dan Sykes 75, Bradley Cowdroy 68, 50, 41, Connor Benzey 62, 57, 47, Mickey Joyce 60, Steven Hughes 55, Adam Stacey 51, 46, Jamie Wilson 43, Anthony Rice 40.

Gold results – round robin group A: 1 Bradley Cowdroy (Greenbaize, Bournemouth), 2 Adam Stacey (Legends, Leytonstone), 3 Connor Benzey (Chandler’s Ford SC), 4 James Budd (Fareham SC), 5 Mike Trigg (Chandler’s Ford SC).

Group B: 1 Anthony Rice (Salisbury SC), 2 Mickey Joyce (Chandler’s Ford SC), 3 Oliver Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC), 4 Jamie Wilson (Waterlooville Sports Bar).

Group C: 1 Dan Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC), 2 Steven Hughes (Chandler’s Ford SC), 3 Callum Browne (Player’s, Westbury), 4 Olly Gibbs (Chandler’s Ford SC).

Quarter-finals (12 points): Stacey 2 Hughes 0, Cowdroy 2 Browne 0, Joyce 2 D Sykes 1, Benzey 2 Rice 1. Semi-finals (15 points): Cowdroy 2 Benzey 1, Joyce 2 Stacey 1.

Final (£70/£30, 25/18 points): Joyce 3 Cowdroy 0.