TWO Essex Invitation Petanque League teams entered the Chiltern Open at Arlesey Football Club.

Wethersfield's Terry Whiting, Geoff Cockwell, Kim Speed and Ryan Cook were playing their first senior competition and did well in the morning but just lost out in their three league games.

The Onley club drew the UK champions - Jack Blows, Jeremy and Sarah Huntly - from Baldock in their first game.

Despite scoring just two points, Dave Bird, Trevor Blows and Daniel Blows pointed well at each end and were pleased with their performance.

Next up were a team from Norwich and after being 11-2 down, the Onley trio dug deep to win 13-11 in a very long match, before a close third game ended in a narrow 13-10 defeat to Luton.

The Essex League teams were then drawn against each other in the Plate quarter-final.

Onley took a 6-0 lead and although Wethersfield got back to 6-5, it proved their only success as the Onley ran out 13-5 winners.

The Onley played another Norwich team in the semi-final, but at 12-7 up, they failed to take their chances and missed out on the final in a 13-12 defeat.