Charnwood Men’s First Team started their Leicestershire Winter League campaign with a comprehensive victory in their first match of the season.

Hosting Stoney Stanton, at whom they suffered a 7-1 defeat 12 months ago, the Loughborough club were able to reverse the scoreline and jump to the top of Division 1A.

Charnwood captain Chris Cottrell and partner Paul Maguire showed their experience in their opening match, easing past Stoney Stanton’s Dan Cosgrove and Brad Coutts-Hawes with a 6-2, 6-0 win.

The spoils were shared in the other opening rubber, as Chris Mears and Jack Hallam took the first set for Charnwood, before Stoney Stanton’s Mark Corby and Matt Webber restored parity, the match ending 6-2, 5-7.

Mears and Hallam were ruthless against Stoney Stanton’s second pair, winning 6-3, 6-0 to guarantee a Charnwood victory in the tie.

And Cottrell and Maguire put the cherry on the cake with victory in the fourth rubber, winning the opening set 6-3, then recovering from 5-3 down to take the second set 7-6.