Carlsberg South West Peninsula division one East

Okehampton Argyle 2

Exwick Villa 2

AFTER eight straight league defeats, Argyle finally saw some just reward for all their hard work in recent weeks, earning only their third point of the season in this hard fought draw.

The opening exchanges were fairly even but on the quarter hour mark, Okehampton’s defence was slow to react to a long cross from the right, allowing Matt Burns to lay the ball off for Jordan Harris, who fired the ball home from just inside the box.

Argyle battled back but did not really trouble the visiting keeper with many promising moves petering out when they reached the front men and both defences were in charge before the break.

The second half was only seven minutes old when Argyle levelled the match. A long cross from the right from Toby Gostling was superbly headed home by James Williams, up raiding from his defensive role.

Argyle sensed that victory might be possible and started pushing forward but Villa were always dangerous as they broke back with speed. It took a stunning point blank save by Harry Geering to keep the the home side level.

Then on 66 minutes, another long through ball from Villa found Argyle defender Chris Hollands too far off his man, allowing Darren Osman to run through and finish with aplomb. Once again, Argyle refused to give up. The introduction of substitutes Roger Bonaparte and Matt Mortimer added fresh skill and grit to the team as they once again pressurised the visitors’ defence; Bonaparte used all his experience to constantly turn his marker and Mortimer playing with his never say die attitude.

On 75 minutes, the all important equaliser came as a Dean Jones’ flick-on was fastened onto by Redd Cann, who fired home a superb shot from 30 yards.

This was a tremendous team effort from Argyle, but plaudits must go to Alex Wren for his tremendous work rate and to James Williams, who not only scored but made several superb saving tackles throughout the game, particularly as full time approached with his team mates pushing forward.