Under 15s friendlies

OKEHAMPTON Argyle travelled to Plymouth and played a midweek mini-tournament, with Rottingdean (Sussex) and Staddiscombe.

Of their four short games, they drew 0-0 twice with Rottingdean and lost 0-1 in both matches with Staddiscombe.

With the squad reduced through injuries and holidays, some of the lesser known players were able to take the opportunity to show their worth alongside more established team-mates.

On Saturday, Okehampton were the guests of Horrabridge Rangers but lost an entertaining battle 1-3 and somehow managed to undo all the good work of the previous Tuesday.

For the best part of the fist half, Argyle had their hosts on the ropes by playing fine football that was only let down by the inability to score when it seemed the easier option.

Chapman, Drew and Sercombe can look back in wonder at where they went wrong but need to learn the lesson, sooner than later.

As Okehampton pressed for the first goal, the ball spent as much time in the river behind the goal as it did on the park and Rangers' keeper also pulled off a couple of fine saves.

Horrabridge came back and the visitors' defence was caught napping once or twice.

Large holes appeared in midfield and Horrabridge were quick to exploit this by pushing their own centre midfielders forward.

In the second half, Horrabridge's first goals were directly as a result of their midfield being allowed time to pass where they wanted, splitting the Okehampton defence. Searching to retrieve the game almost led to a complete collapse, as captain Chris Wills attacked from the back. Fortunately, his colleagues behind dealt with things and he was rewarded as Argyle scored through Soby.

Okehampton had already increased their chances at this point, Sercombe clipping the bar and Wills hitting the post from the tightest of angles.

The home side were not to be outdone and, with another goal, put a competitive but sporting game beyond Okehampton's reach.