South West Peninsula division one East

Appledore 2

Okehampton Argyle 3

THIS was a superb display by Argyle against a highly placed Appledore team, who had won through to the Devon Premier Cup final the previous Wednesday.

Okehampton started with some lovely football and matched their hosts in all departments. However, they fell behind on 15 minutes when the usually reliable Dan Johnston kicked over the ball when attempting to clear and allowed it to slip through to Appledore's Steve Skinner who fired home from close in.

Argyle did not allow their heads to drop and came back at their hosts with Matt Sanders taking the eye in midfield and Frankie Nomah-Koneh and Darren Prouse always troubling the home defence.

After 25 minutes, Argyle won a direct free kick just outside the box and Matt Sanders stepped up to curl it beautifully around the defensive wall and into the bottom corner of the net. The game continued evenly, and Argyle were unlucky not to get a penalty when a shot from Nomah-Koneh appeared to be handled on the home goal line.

Moments before half-time, Dan Johnston again allowed the ball to slip through his legs in the Argyle box, and in the goalmouth scramble that ensued, Appledore's Skinner was brought down. Adam Copp fired home the resulting penalty giving Okes keeper Harry Geering no chance.

The second half saw Okehampton bring on midfielder Ed Squire for defender Mark Burdus. Argyle were now pushing Appledore back and constantly threatening an equaliser with Frankie Nomah-Koneh combining well with Kel Fofala on the left and Daren Prouse showing some fine touches at centre-forward.

When the home side did break out, good defensive work by Chris Wills, Stuart Entwhistle and Dan Johnston kept them at bay with midfielder and captain James Williams covering a massive amount of ground to help out at both ends.

Steve Williams and attacking midfielder Steve Kinsey came on for midfielders Matt Sanders and Jonjo Fellows with 20 minutes remaining. Argyle now played with three up front and were rewarded on 70 minutes when Darren Prouse played a beautiful pass through to Frankie Nomah-Koneh, who fired the ball into the back of the Appledore net.

Okehampton continued to push forward looking for all three points and with only five minutes remaining, a long through ball saw Steve Williams outpace the home defence and brilliantly lob the ball over the advancing home keeper to give the Argyle a deserved victory.

This was a great team performance with every member of the squad.