Honiton Petanque had a double header when they entertained both Plymouth and the other Brickfields Sports-based team, Mayflower.

With the Plymouth sides coming to East Devon sitting first and second in the table it made for potentially, a tough day of action for the home side, but Honiton rose to the occasion to win both matches, taking maximum points.

The brace of wins sees Honiton up to third in the league and they now have 12 points, the same as second-placed Ottery St Mary.

Plymouth drop from first to fourth while Mayflower now top the table by one point over the East Devon sides.

In terms of the actual petanque action, Honiton began by taking on a Mayflower outfit in their first season in the league.

It was a close contest throughout and the match ended with just two points between the teams with Honiton on the 'right side' of a 61-59 score line.

After the first round of triples the match stood at one apiece in two tight games, and Honiton fell 2-1 behind after the first game of the doubles round, losing by one point.

However, the second home pair squeaked home by a single point and the third pair sealed an overall 3-2 success with a good performance in another tough game.

Honiton tweaked personnel for the second game, one that was always considered to be the 'tougher' of the two but the home side proved too strong for the opposition, recording an emphatic 4-1 success.

The visitors did not cope well with the Mountbatten Park terrain and quickly found themselves 2-0 down after round one of the triples.

The doubles round followed a similar pattern with the exception of the last pairing where a long hard fought game went in favour of Plymouth to give them some consolation.

This was two excellent team performances, with contributions from all Honiton players, against two very good sides and the club has now built on a solid start to the season.

Another home match is next, this time against local rivals Ottery St Mary and there will be more than bragging rights on offer for both clubs.

The winners will go top of the league as the match will be played ahead of the other fixtures.

Match statistics

Honiton 3, Mayflower 2

Triples: Cecily Young, Carol Williams and Chris Bigmore lost 13-10; Janet Driscoll, Ron Hutchinson and Jenny Lavender won 13--11.

Doubles: Ron Hutchinson and Den Williams lost 13-12; Cecily Young and Chris Bigmore won 13-12; Janet Driscoll and Jenny Lavender won 13-10

Honiton 4, Plymouth 1

Triples: Cecily Young, Jenny Lavender and Chris Bigmore won 13-6; Ron Hutchinson, Carol and Den Williams won 13-7.

Doubles: Ron Hutchinson and Jenny Lavender won 13-7; Carol and Den Williams won 13-5; Cecily Young and Chris Bigmore lost 13-8.