EYES ON THE PRIZES: The Division Four race for silverware is hotting up with Liverton United Reserves beating leaders Drake FC in their quest for a league and cup double. Photo contributed by SDFL
With almost a full program of fixtures for the first time in many weeks, the Torbay Clearance Services South Devon Football League returned to the business part of the season where teams that have worked hard since last August make their moves for silverware or the points that are needed to keep the status they currently hold.
Before I get on to the results I do have some sympathy for Premier Division Morley Rangers who have somehow managed to hold on to the runners-up spot despite suffering their sixth weather-related postponement in the last seven weeks; in fact, if they had played every week, they would have finished their season last weekend; hopefully they will play some games in April.
In the Torbay Clearance Services Premier League, Kingsteignton Athletic had a massive 4-nil victory at Buckfastleigh Rangers and are now just 2 points behind Morley Rangers in third with a game in hand. Tom Reeves and Luke Manuell were on target for the Rams. The other two games played in the Premier Division were in the Belli League Cup where Newton Abbot ’66 progressed to the semi-final with a 4 – 2 win at East Allington United; Aiden Corcoran and Daniel Joyce scored for the South Hams outfit, but ’66, who are also in the quarter-finals of the Herald Cup, continued their good cup form with goals from Tom Lowe, Joe Clarke Farley, Jacon Cockram and Carl Foskett. Brixham AFC Reserves also bowed out of the league cup at the hands of Elburton Villa Resurves; the 6 – 1 scoreline did not do justice to the hard-working youngsters at Brixham who now have 6 league games left and are 8 points from safety; they will be hoping for a spring revival in their remaining games.
Division One has proved to be as exciting and competitive as everybody thought at the start of the season, and there are still 5 teams in the mix and no runaway leaders as some thought. Ivybridge Town Reserves have been knocked off top spot; a 3 – 2 defeat at Buckland Athletic Reserves has let Paignton Saints move into pole position albeit on goal difference. The Ivies scored through Daniel Hodgson and Matt Hill, but they were sent packing back down the A38 empty-handed following strikes from Lee Grimshaw, Gordon Stevenson and Luca Staniforth. Paignton Saints, who are enjoying life in the South Devon League following a spell in the football pyramid, had a comfortable 5 – 1 home win against local rivals Paignton Villa at Coach Road. Also in the same situation, Newton Abbot Spurs Reserves seem to be enjoying their football again and are still in the mix; just 9 points off the top with 3 games in hand, they ran out 7 – 1 victors over bottom club Buckfastleigh Rangers Reserves, and Brixham Town, who may be outsiders but are level on points with Spurs, had a great 3 – 2 win against a strong Watcombe Wanderers team.
The big game at the bottom of the table went the way of Upton Athletic; they beat Harbertonford by a single goal on the slope at Steps Cross and have moved 3 points clear of the drop zone.
In Division Two of the Torbay Clearance Services League, pre-season favourites Paignton Saints Reserves slipped up away at Barton Athletic losing by 3 goals to 2; they are now 7 points off the lead with only 2 games in hand; the only other game in this division was at Ipplepen Athletic Reserves who moved up 4 places with a 4-nil win over bottom club Brixham Town Seconds.
In Division Three, Stoke Gabriel TP cemented a mid table position with a 2 – 1 win over Newton Abbot ’66 Seconds at Osborne Park; Adam Blackburn and Garry Drew got on the scoresheet for the visitors and with some games in hand, ’66 still have some work to do. The league cup for this division saw favourites Ashburton lose the A38 derby game by 1 goal to nil to South Brent who are 7 places below them in the league; it took an extra time strike from Jono Ellis to put Brent into the semi-final. Joining them will be Watcombe Wanderers Seconds who were taken all the way by Teign Village but ran out 2 – 1 victors in the end; goals from Simon Ross and Mike Fieldhouse were just enough for the Greens.
The Division Four title race was blown wide open by an experienced Liverton United Reserves team who travelled to league leaders Drake FC, and it was the visitors who took the lead 2 minutes before the break when Aaron Underhill broke free and slotted the ball past the advancing ‘keeper. Prior to that, the home team simply did not take their chances and when in the second half Liverton were awarded a free-kick some 30 yards from goal and the speculative cross took a deflection…you know where it ended up. The visitors sat back and soaked up the pressure and again Drake spurned their chances; they did get a consolation goal 3 minutes from the end but the visitors took the points back to Halford. This division also has 5 teams in with a shout for honours: Liverton are now 1 point behind Drake with a game in hand; Kingsteignton Athletic Reserves are fourth, 8 points behind with 3 games in hand and Elburton Villa Thirds are 10 points behind with 5 games in hand. Outsiders Chudleigh Athletic Seconds remain in third place but only have 3 games in total to play.
Games to catch on 6th April (or earlier if you need a football fix as teams start playing midweek to catch up on their postponed games): South Brent still have 13 games to play in Division Three; they sit third from bottom but are in fact promotion candidates with games in hand; they play Teign Village who are 1 place below them and need the points to stay up KO is 6.15pm on Wednesday.
WBB will attempt for the sixth time to host Morley Rangers in the Belli Cup, and Beesands Rovers will be looking to get their season back on track at home to Kingsteignton Athletic. Totnes and Dartington host Newton Abbot Spurs in a Division One game at Dartington Hall and in Division Two, Newton Abbot Spurs Thirds host Paignton Saints Reserves who are both chasing a promotion place. There are a couple of promotion clashes in Division Three: Liverton United host runaway leaders Watcombe Wanderers Reserves and South Brent play Ashburton in an A38 derby game. In the Division Four league cup, Drake FC will lock horns with Liverton United reserves for the second time in two weeks, and there is a wooden spoon fixture at White Rock where Paignton Villa Thirds welcome South Brent Reserves, and may the best team on the day win. Just also a reminder that the first South Devon League cup final kicks off on Friday 12th April at Buckfastleigh when Paignton Saints Reserves face Watcombe Wanderers Reserves in the Fred Hewings Cup which is the knockout competition for reserve teams; kick off is 7pm and it should be a cracker.