Honiton Petanque Club opened their Devon League campaign with a fine 3-2 away win at Exeter-based, Isca Petanque Club.

After a losing debut season in 2016, Devon’s newest club were able to chalk up their first success in a tightly fought match.

Team captain Chris Bigmore, said: “We lost most of our matches last season by the same narrow score line, so this time being in our favour is more than deserved.

“I also spoke about how we were gaining experience in our first season, which would hold us in good stead this year, and this time we got over the line in front. Adding one or two new players to the squad has helped, and all the team played well.”

The first round of triples saw Larry Halliwell, Jenny Lavender and Cecily Young beaten 13-4, but the second triple of Charlie O’Reilly, Chris Bigmore and Neil Standring took a big lead and then held off a strong fight back to secure a 13-11 success.

That left the match all square at 1-1 at the break and the second round of doubles began with O’Reilly and Standring bagging a 13-5 victory with a strong performance, before Isca levelled the overall match score when Bigmore and Lavender, despite being in control for much of their match, were beaten 13-9.

With the match scores tied at 2-2 the outcome was dependant on the final pairs game.

It reached a thrilling end with the final game level at 12-12, but Halliwel and Young held their nerve to claim the next point to seal a dramatic 13-12 win to secure an overall 3-2 victory for Honiton.

The second outing for Honiton is again away with a visit to Chudleigh. An upbeat Bigmore says: “It’s a tough start with the back-to-back away games, especially with one of them being the favourites to win the league, Chudleigh, but the win at Isca has given us all a boost and we can head for this big test at Chudleigh with growing confidence.”