Oxfordshire’s quest to reach the Middleton Cup national finals ended in agonising fashion with a 120-118 defeat by holders Devon in the last eight at Barnwood BC, Gloucester.

Oxon trailed by 17 shots at 15 ends, but staged a late rally, picking up shots across the board only for the 11-times champions to hold on in a tense finish.

The game between Oxon skip Alan Prew and Devon’s Commonwealth Games star Sam Tolchard was the closest throughout.

A two at the edge of the ditch for Oxon on the last end meant a three-shot victory for Prew’s four of Keith Holloway, Ian Henwood and Richard Redford, cutting the gap to one with only Mark Sykes’ and Paul Sharman’s fours still playing.

Sykes and his side of AJ Docherty, Kevin Alder and Calvin Carpenter had shown amazing fortitude to stay in their game against Griff Sanders.

The Devon man had made life difficult, forcing Sykes to play weight with his last bowl, and a narrow miss meant a 28-18 defeat, which left Sharman needing a three to force extra ends.

His Carterton four of Lee Young, 19-year-old debutant Shane Cooper and Andy Martin had been in danger of being eclipsed by Richard Bawden’s rink, which included national triples winner Steve Bonetta.

However, they stuck to the task in hand and got back within six.

Holding one, but with a few close seconds to Devon, Sharman with his last bowl of the game had no choice but to play a speculative weighted shot to move the jack.

Another narrow miss and Oxon had lost two by two shots.

Devon had opened up with a massive 18 shots on the first end, and after ten, the reigning champions had a seemingly unassailable 31-shot lead.

But Oxon, missing ever presents Barry Lambourne and George Schwab, dug in.

Mark Charlett’s rink, featuring the outstanding Gary May, plus Mick Nash and Calvin Carpenter were 11-1 down early on.

But they gradually closed the gap and overtook Jamie Chestney with some great team play to win 27-15.

Out on a very tricky rink six, Baden Sparkes’s side of Mike Petersen, David Clanfield and Robbie Clanfield racked up 16 shots to two over the last 11 ends to floor Kevin Phillips 22-16.

Ian Snowdon’s four of Dean May, Shaun Claridge and Jason King led early on, but went down 20-12 to James Webber.

Devon 120, Oxfordshire 118

(Devon rinks first)

Rink 1: S Davies, S Bonetta, K Newcombe, R Bawden 21; L Young, S Cooper, A Martin, P Sharman 16.

Rink 2: D Tuckett, M Coombes, I Lesley, J Chestney 15; M Nash, G May, N Lewis , M Charlett 27.

Rink 3: D James, C Ralph, L Haywood, G Sanders 28; AJ Docherty, K Alder, C Carpenter, M Sykes 18.

Rink 4: J Melmore, O Lucas, N Pook, S Tolchard 20; K Holloway, I Henwood, R Redford, A Prew 23.

Rink 5: R Whitlock, C Down, S Evans, J Webber 20; D May, S Claridge, J King, I Snowdon 12.

Rink 6: G Foster, M Bass, S Haywood, K Phillips 16; M Petersen, D Clanfield, Ro Clanfield, B Sparkes 22.