Honiton Petanque were understandably tentative at the prospect of facing Plymouth.

For they went into the match off the back off a brace of defeats, one of them a 5-0 whitewash and they would be up against the league’s form team who had won all their matches prior to this latest contest.

However, Honiton turned the firm book on its head by recording a big upset with a 3-2 Mountbatten Park success to end the Plymouth unbeaten run.

Team captain Chris Bigmore, who resisted the chance to make changes in personnel, said: “The same side was selected as the previous two matches as I thought that the experience gained would be useful and harden the resolve of our players.

“So it proved; we were all very determined. In fact the score line suggests a closer match than it was and we could have won more comfortable.”

After the first round the home side were soon 2-0 up with the triples of Cecily Young, Tony Prior and Larry Halliwell followed by Jenny Lavender, Chris Bigmore and Charlie O’Reilly winning 13-3 and 13-8 respectively.

Plymouth were then briefly up in all three doubles in the early stages of the second round, and, although Young and Halliwell went down 13-7, Prior and O’Reilly won their game 13-9 to give Honiton a 3-1 lead.

The final game saw lavender and Bigmore beaten 13-8, but by then it was too little, too late, for the visiting team.

Latest Devon Petanque League table

P W PD Pts

Ottery St Mary 8 5 56 23

Plymouth 7 6 75 22

Pig On The Hill 8 6 51 22

TorridgeU3A 8 3 13 22

Honiton 9 4 -79 20

Chudleigh 7 2 -31 14

Isca 8 1 -85 12