If ever there was a game of two halves, then the Budleigh Salterton Bowls Club men certainly served it up on Monday night at Cricket Field Lane.
In a remarkable turnaround, the Budleigh bowlers came from behind to shock their opponents from Feniton and a thrilling game to properly get the season started.
Paul Griffin, Andrew Cardy and David Roberts took part in the first round of the Devon Section Three Unbadged Triples competition and knew that they needed to be on top form to have any chance of beating their formidable opponents.
Unfortunately, the writing looked like it was very much on the wall, as Feniton adapted to the green much faster and raced into a daunting 13-shot advantage after seven ends, with Budleigh failing to reply and wondering how they could stop the rot.
Having conceded six shots on end six, it was a question of how to change the game and get a foothold to keep down the margin of defeat.
Just when they needed it, their luck started to change and with three shots registered on end eight, the Budleigh men started to play some fine bowls.
Inspiration seemingly arrived from nowhere and a particularly impressive display after the understandable lack of competitive action over the past 12 months.
It is important to say at this stage that it was Budleigh’s lead bowler Paul Griffin who changed their fortunes, as he became the game-changer, dictating proceedings with an amazing tactical switch in the mat length, which totally foxed the opponents time after time.
With Andrew Cardy also finding some good form and skip David Roberts improving all the time, slowly but surely, the margin of deficit reduced and, with two successive scores of four shots, it was all level at 14-14 with four ends to play.
In an enthralling and tense finish, the Budleigh men held their nerve, continued the momentum from a superb recovery to record a memorable win, with a final score of 19-15 booking a second-round tie against Ottery St Mary.