South West Peninsula Division One East
Okehampton Argyle 2
Liverton United 6
LIVERTON, who with a new management team and several new players, had demolished the league leaders 6-0 the previous Saturday, carried on where they had left off in the first 20 minutes at Simmons Park.
Okehampton had not had a match for three weeks and this showed as Liverton tore Argyle's defence apart with their blistering pace. The game was only two minutes old when Darren Sowerby broke down the right and put in a superb cross for Jason Heath to turn home and give the visitors the lead. Eight minutes later, a dreadful clearance out of the Argyle defence went straight to Sowerby who gave keeper Harry Geering no chance with a clinical finish.
Six minutes later Okehampton fell 3-0 behind when Rob Farkins scored with a powerful header from a deep right wing cross.
On 20 minutes, the game was all over as Liverton increased their lead yet again when Dan Broadway's left footed shot went in off the post.
Argyle manager Stuart Cann brought himself on as a defensive sweeper in an attempt to stop the rot and this at least added some organisation to the defence. With Cann barking orders to players around him, Okehampton began to come back into the game and threaten the Liverton goal, but on 40 minutes, Argyle were caught by a sucker punch when a long clearance by the visitors saw Sowerby outpace the home defence to poke the ball home.
Trailing 5-0 at half-time, most teams would have completely folded, but to Argyle's credit, they came out after the break and took the game to the visitors.
After only two minutes Ben Harris coolly slotted home Okehampton's first after Liverton had failed to clear the ball following intense pressure on their goal from the Okes' forwards. Argyle continued to press and with 15 minutes left, a superb deep corner from Chris Wills was beautifully headed home by Adam Mortimer.
Minutes later a penalty appeal for Okehampton was turned down by the referee after Steve Kinsey appeared to be fouled by the Liverton defenders. Argyle now felt they might be able to get something out of the game and pushed forward but the inevitable happened when five minutes from time, a long ball into the box saw Liverton's Dan Broadway score his second when he headed the ball out of Geering's hands. Argyle came back and a superb header by Ben Harris rattled the visitors' crossbar.
Argyle showed in the second half that they could match Liverton in pace and skill, but unfortunately this game was lost in the first 20 minutes before the players had woken up.
l Next Saturday Okehampton Argyle are away to Totnes and Dartington in the league, kick-off 2.15pm.