SOUTH WEST PENINSULA LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION EAST

Okehampton Argyle 2 Bovey Tracey 4

OKEHAMPTON Argyle’s greatly rearranged and depleted squad were no match for the speed of the Bovey Tracey forwards in this match, writes Charlie Bond.

Argyle are still missing several key players and brought in one or two new faces but to be honest, the team they put on the field is not of a high enough standard to compete at this level.

The visitors fielded a young team but they played with much more passion and skill. Argyle are clearly missing centre-forward and leading goal scorer Dan Koita who has moved to Southern League Tiverton, but it was in the defence where they clearly lacked pace and were easily beaten by the long ball forward.

Okehampton started off well and on nine minutes, Connor Madge fired in a good low cross from the right, which was played on by Josh Coles to Luke Mortimore, but his shot was well saved by the Bovey keeper. Two minutes later, a shot from Mortimore was turned round the post by the keeper and from the resulting corner, Jamal Bokhammas headed Argyle into the lead.

This lead only lasted a minute however as Bovey’s Neil Last turned in midfield and played a ball through Argyle’s static defence for Jack Brimming to run onto and put it past Jack Arthur.

Then, on 24 minutes, the Argyle defence appealed for offside and allowed Brimming to run on and score to give the visitors the lead. Argyle fought back and, on the half-hour, a great ball over the defence from Jay Vesey found Luke Mortimore, who fired past the advancing keeper for 2-2.

Argyle started off the second half well, but only produced half-chances and Jack Arthur was called upon to make some good saves to keep the game level.

The match could have gone either way at this stage, but Okehampton always looked vulnerable at the back against the speed of the Bovey forwards.

On 73 minutes, the visitors took the lead with a slightly fortuitous goal. Great play on the left of the box by Bovey resulted in a good low cross which was played home by Lewis Perring off his studs. The final goal of the game came on 85 minutes, when a Bovey corner from the right was only cleared as far as Neil Last who volleyed home a great shot into the back of the net.

Overall, it wasn’t the best of days for the home supporters but they can only hope to see a more settled squad in the coming weeks as Okey look to get their campaign back on track.

Elsewhere, Cullompton Rangers edged out Sidmouth Town in a battle between the top two of the division whilst some games, including Newton Abbot Spurs vs Axminster Town at The Rec, fell foul of the weather. There were also wins on the road for Bridport FC and Stoke Gabriel & Torbay Police.

Talking of Bridport and that is where Argyle will be headed next, visiting them in the league on Saturday, February 1 for a 3pm kick-off.