WHILST Okehampton Argyle suffered late heartbreak at Simmons Park, having to settle for a point against Stoke Gabriel & Torbay Police, there was another hugely intriguing game taking place at The Rec.

Newton Abbot Spurs made it six wins on the spin in the Walter C Parson SW Peninsula League on Saturday, March 15 and kept a fourth clean sheet in five in all competitions.

Elburton Villa were the visitors at The Rec and despite Spurs boss Marc Revell expecting them to “challenge at the top with their games in hand”, there was a major gulf of class on display as the title race hots up even further.

Toby Pullman added another two to his tally for the season with the in-form Tyler Joint and midfielder Mason Dolman-Zuccarro also finding the back of the net in this 4-0 success.

It was the visitors who had the first chance of the afternoon, Jack Alexander firing just wide of Owen Vosper’s far post in the opening exchanges.

Jack Lee then picked up a yellow card shortly after for a heavy challenge on Calum Fyfe and the resulting free-kick brought about the opener. Villa’s goalkeeper was unable to hang on and Pullman was on hand to tap home a 16th of the Peninsula League campaign.

Things went from bad to worse for Elburton as striker Sam Hughes spoke his way into the sin-bin, the referee showing once again he wasn’t afraid to dish out the cards.

Talking of Tyler Joint and he made it three goals in three, having struck in the recent wins at Okehampton Argyle and Crediton United, firing low and hard beyond the keeper.

Controversy arose on the brink of half-time with the ref at the heart of it once again. Revell commented that he has “nothing but respect” for officials but with the Elburton shot-stopper scything down Pullman who had knocked the ball beyond him, the yellow card that followed raised eyebrows all around The Rec with it surely being a red card offence.

The Spurs frontman was down for a while but he was okay to continue and from the set-piece that followed, Dolman-Zuccarro flicked Owen Green’s effort beyond Jason Peters for a 3-0 lead, the last action of the first 45.

Elburton captain Jordan Rundle was the second player of the day to be sin-binned in a rather puzzling nature, with a yellow card, then a red card and then another yellow card going his way. This was one of the few incidents of an uneventful second half but with the die being cast, Pullman spotted Peters off of his line and chipped him from near the halfway line in the final knockings to cap off a great afternoon.

Pullman now has 17 goals to his name in the league with Revell labelling him as a “true difference maker”. He continued, “The team works really hard for each other with Toby down the middle”, mentioning that you need “a-goal-a-game striker” to win the league.

Spurs remain locked into a battle with Sidmouth Town at the summit whereas the poor form of Oke Argyle has seen them drop out of contention. Also in with a chance are Bridport FC and Cullompton Rangers although Spurs have games in hand on all of those around them.