Honiton Petanque club continued their good start to the season with a brace of home victories last week, writes Chris Bigmore.

Two closely fought matches against Chudleigh and Plymouth both ended in 3-2 wins, to secure another four points.

The team now sit third in the Devon League, but only on points difference, as they join Ottery St Mary and Isca at the top with seven points.

Both matches followed a similar pattern with scores level at 1-1 after the triples round, and the result only decided in the final doubles games.

Against Chudleigh the trio of Tony Prior, Jenny Lavender and Chris Bigmore went down 13-6, before Cecily Young, Ron Hutchinson and Charlie O’Reilly levelled affairs with a 13-10 win.

The pairing of Young and Lavender then suffered a 13-2 loss, but Bigmore and Prior squared things with an emphatic 13-4 win.

Janet Driscoll and O’Reilly finally clinched the match, overcoming their opponents 13-8.

Another very tight match against Plymouth saw Prior, Lavender and Bigmore score a 13-10 win to even the match after Young, Hutchinson and O’Reilly had swiftly lost their triples 13-3. Prior and Bigmore then lost their doubles 13-8, but Hutchinson and O’Reilly kept the match in the balance holding on for a narrow 13-12 win.

Overall victory was secured by Young and Lavender with a 13-10 hard fought win.

Next up for Honiton is an away fixture in Exeter against a resurgent Isca, who stand one place above them in the Devon League table.