The Devon Petanque League season was brought to a conclusion last week with the final round of matches played and champions Ottery St Mary finished their campaign in style, writes Chris Bigmore.
They went into their last two matches already crowned as champions and secured decisive wins over Isca and Wellington, who ended up occupying the bottom two places.
It has been a learning curve for Wellington in their debut year in the league and an improvement was apparent during the season that should see them progress next term.
Along with Isca they also suffered defeat at the hands of Honiton who emerged from the pack to finish as surprise runners up to their East Devon neighbours.
The other side who were in contention for second place was Mayflower, who enjoyed a very good season as a new set up at Brickfields Sports. They finished in third place after a win and a loss against the two mid table teams of Torridge and Pig On The Hill, and it was the same outcome for Plymouth to end a frustrating season for them.
Last years champions, Chudleigh, had already completed their fixtures but the results from the round meant they dropped down to a sixth place finish.
It is Ottery, then, who are the deserved 2019 league champions after a season that saw them lose only two matches and, in reality, always in firm control at the top. After a run in recent years of finishing runners up to a few different clubs, they finally won their first title since 2010.
Final match results: Ottery St Mary 4, Isca 1; Honiton 4, Wellington 1; Mayflower 2, Torridge 3; Plymouth 2, Pig On The Hill 3; Ottery St Mary 4, Wellington 1; Honiton 3, Isca 2; Mayflower 3, Pig On The Hill 2; Plymouth 4, Torridge 1.
Devon Petanque League 2019 final table
P W G PD BP TP
Ottery St Mary 16 14 55 196 1 43
Honiton 16 11 48 99 3 36
Mayflower 16 10 44 35 4 34
Pig On The Hill 16 9 39 19 4 31
Torridge U3A 16 8 42 12 5 29
Chudleigh 16 8 39 23 3 27
Plymouth 16 6 39 4 7 25
Isca 16 6 38 -46 5 23
Wellington 16 0 16 -342 3 3
PD= points difference; BP = bonus points; TP = total points
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