TORBAY CLEARANCE SERVICES, SOUTH DEVON FOOTBALL LEAGUE. WEEKLY MATCH REPORTS 26th OCTOBER, report by Alastair Muirden. Photo contributed by SDFL
With both Waldon Athletic and Newton Abbot ’66 having a free weekend in the league, it gave the chasing pack an opportunity to catch up at the top of the Premier Division; Ilsington Villa got back to winning ways with a 3 – 1 home win against Elburton Villa; goals from Daniel Langford and Jamie Beer were enough to put the champions into third place, three points off the top with a game in hand.
Newton Abbot Spurs Reserves are making good progress up the league; a five-nil win at Totnes and Dartington is an excellent scoreline that puts Spurs into fourth place, six points behind with two games in hand, and the result drops Totnes into a respectable fifth place. The other team moving upwards is East Allington United although they have four games in hand already; they have only lost once, and a hard fought two-nil win at Paignton Saints, thanks to goals from Joe Sita and Ben Tapper, keeps the Pirates in the mix in what is turning out to be a great competition this season. A third win on the bounce for Kingsteignton Athletic has moved them clear of the bottom three; a one-nil win at local rivals Chudleigh Athletic, thanks to a solitary goal from Nick Garrett, leaves the home team third from bottom with Elburton Villa Reserves and Beesands Rovers below them. Beesands came a cropper at Buckfastleigh Rangers who blew hot this week; a 4 – 1 win for the home team leaves the Bees searching for a second win of the season that would give some confidence to the players.
In Division One, Phoenix, True Blues and Bovey Tracey Reserves march on at the top with impressive wins; Phoenix remain two points clear at the top; a 4 – 1 win at Buckland Athletic Reserves, with goals from JJ Honeywell, David Moore, Taylor Owen and Grant Craven, keeps the momentum upwards for the pre-season favourites. True Blues probably had the result of the day in Division One; an 8 – 1 win at Brixham Town, who lost for only the second time this term, is a very good result and almost as good as the overhead kick from Danny Wright that has been doing the rounds on social media this week. Bovey Tracey also enjoyed success on the road; a 5 – 1 win at WBB thanks to an all round great team performance keeps them well placed to disrupt the Plymouth dominance in what is a good division. In fourth place are The Windmill FC who were held to a 1 – 1 draw at Watcombe Wanderers and lose a bit of ground on the top three, the home team proving that Long Lane is not just a difficult drive; you need to turn up when the game starts. Paignton Villa also had another good result which sees them up to fifth place; a 2 – 1 home win versus Ivybridge Town Reserves leaves the visitors second from bottom after just missing out on promotion last season.
Last week, I reported that Division Two was officially a two horse race, but that may have been premature; after this week’s results, I must admit it looks like a five horse race but only if the games in hand are turned into points. Barton Athletic were beaten for the first time this term; a 4 – 2 home defeat by Watcombe Wanderers Seconds, and a cracking game by all accounts, puts the Greens ten points off the top with three games in hand, and both of these teams will be up there come May. East Allington United Seconds are twelve points off the top with four games in hand and were held this week by bottom club Ipplepen Athletic Reserves in a 4 – 4 draw. And finally, Liverton United are thirteen points off the top with four games in hand; they enjoyed a 6 – 2 victory at Paignton Villa Seconds; strikes from Joshua Passmore-Tarpey, Jamie Passmore, Graham Mercieca and Stuart McAuley were good enough to get Livvy back to winning ways. The big game at the bottom went the way of the home team, Newton Rovers (pictured), who edged a niggly game by two goals to one against Buckfastleigh Rangers Reserves who swap places for now. The home team turned around a one-nil deficit at half time with goals from Jordan Bastow and a free-kick from Keelan Howart that evaded everyone to cross the line right at the end to give Rovers their first win of the season and delight the home supporters enjoying the fantastic new facilities at Bakers Park. Harbertonford are one of six teams within a point of each other clogging up the mid-table positions; they suffered a shock two-nil home defeat inflicted by Paignton Saints Seconds; the result moves Saints into one of those mid-table berths.
The top of the table clash in Division Three went to the home team; Ashburton moved two points clear of Drake FC with a fine 2 – 1 win in what was a great game for the neutral but not so good for the managers; the Plymouth-based team headed down the A38 with only their second loss of the season whilst Ashburton have yet to lose a league game. The other two teams in the top four both won; Elburton Villa Thirds were the big hitters this week, a fifteen-nil demolition job was inflicted on Brixham Town Seconds who have been given more accolades this week for not giving up and playing as well as they could for 90 minutes. Kingsteignton Athletic Reserves make up the top four after a 5 – 2 home win versus Totnes and Dartington Reserves with five players getting on the scoresheet: Louis Dickenson, Jason Jones, Finlay Lumgair, Stephen Payne and Mark Prowse all found the target for the Rams. Stoke Gabriel TP suffered a shock 4 – 1 home defeat by Waldon Athletic Seconds; it was their second loss of the season and leaves them seven points off the lead, but for Waldon, goals from Sean Finch, Tom Davies, Charlie Charlesworth and Charlie Uniackie move them away from immediate danger, and finally in Division Three, a word for South Brent FC; four weeks ago, they gave notice to withdraw from the competition; a quickly arranged discussion with the league management resulted in them being given four weeks with no games or penalties during that period with an advertising campaign to attract a new manager and players. Four weeks later, they have a new manager and have registered 15 new players. Despite playing together for the first time, they won three-nil against Paignton Saints Thirds; Brent remain bottom of the table but the future looks good at Palstone Park, and the other teams in this division will have two more games to play during the season instead of two free Saturdays had they folded. Well done to Chris Hill and the volunteers at Brent.
The top of Division Four in the Torbay Clearance Services league is currently shared by three teams on 18 points; Kingskerswell FC continue to impress at this level; a 7 – 1 home win against Templer Way keeps their momentum going, and top scorer Josh Clarke hit another four goals to add to his own impressive total at the moment. Chudleigh Athletic Seconds are level on points with Kerswell; a 5 – 2 win at Broadhempston United is a very good result; strikes from Christian Williams, Oliver Bradley and Ben Hamilton-Hill were enough to win the points for the visitors; Teign Village remain in third place, but they suffered a shock 4 – 1 home defeat by Newton Rovers Reserves in a niggly game that sees Rovers into mid-table and enjoying some better results than they have had for a few seasons. Such was the disappointment of the defeat at the Village, they put the beer prices up to £1.90 a pint in the social club to deter the Rovers supporters from celebrating too much; did it work? I will let you decide. Waldon Athletic Thirds also had a good day at the office and moved off the bottom of the division; a 4 – 1 victory over local rivals, thanks to goals from Phoenix Watts, Theo Boyd, Kylan Kurup and Ezekiel Nugent, gives the Clarets their first taste of victory this season.
Games to catch on the 2nd November.
Just the one Premier Division game this week as the county cups once again take up two weeks of league fixtures. Your Premier fix can be found at Broadpark where Kingsteignton Athletic welcome Totnes and Dartington which should be an entertaining affair; in Division One, who does not like a derby and a fisherman’s derby at that? Well worth a watch at Wall Park will be Brixham AFC versus Brixham Town. The big game in Division Two is at Long Lane where Watcombe Wanderers Seconds lock horns with table toppers Barton Athletic who will need to be at their best to get past the Greens.
Enjoy your grassroots football.