BROOMFIELD FC members Trevor Blows and Nikki Parrish were victorious in the East of England pairs competition at Wethersfield.

The Essex Invitation Petanque League duo lost their opening game 13-2, but recovered to take the next two league matches 13-7, against Wethersfield and Hanbury.

This put them into the main knockout competition and they won their quarter-final 13-6 against another Wethersfield pairing.

In the semi-final, they opened a 9-0 lead over Earls Colne and although the opposition replied to make it 9-6, Blows and Parrish took the final two ends to win 13-6.

In the final they faced Francois Bourquin and Nigel Hills, who had beaten them in the first game of the day and opened a 10-2 lead.

Three good ends for Blows and Parrish brought it back to 10-10 to set up a tense finish.

At 11-12, the Broomfield pair took advantage of an open head to score two and take the title and earn an entry into the English Champion of Champions event at Oxshott in Surrey in October.

In the Essex Invitation Petanque League, Three Elms G made it maximum points from two games with a 3-0 win over Blackwater U3A, but Thorley kept up the pressure on with a 3-0 away win at Bocking Poachers.

In division two, the Cock hosted Wethersfield Hopps and the away side provided the first 13-0 win of the season

Despite this loss, Neil Morgan beat Karen Wade in the singles and the Ian Humm and Steve Tooley pairing took the vital point for a 2-1 match win. Bardfield went topwith another surprise win, taking all three games at the Swan Little Totham.

They restricted the home side to just 19 game points on the night.

Wethersfield Combines are second after a 3-0 over Three Elms Q, while a close match saw Bocking Dyers edge out Bardfield Queens 2-1.