Ottery St Mary were emphatic winners when they made the short trip to Honiton for a Devon Petanque League encounter of the ‘local derby kind’, writes John Thatcher.

The match, the first of the new campaign to be staged at the Mountbatten Sports Centre, Honiton, began with an emphatic success for Ottery in the opening triples match – a contest the Otters trio, comprising of Del Hansen, Paul Puddicombe and Mike Bird, won 13-0.

It was certainly something of a shock to the Honiton system for they have performed well in their first away games of the new season.

Next to play for Ottery were John Thatcher, Peter Smith and Keith Tizzard and they also won handsomely.

The Ottery team took their fine form into the doubles with the combinations of Hansen and Puddicombe and then Thatcher and Bird, both bagging 13-0 whitewash wins before Smith and Tizzard combined to win 13-4 leaving the Otters overall 65-7 victors.

So far this season the league is very open with results not going as expected. The status quo is definitely being challenged with all clubs coming up with unexpected wins and bonus points adding to the mix. Ottery are up to second in the table with only Isca currently above them. Next up for the Otters is a difficult trip to North Devon on June 17, to play Pig on the Hill and Torridge U3A on two very different playing surfaces which will require different techniques and skills to come away with good results.