aCarlsberg South West Peninsula division one East

Okehampton Argyle 0

Exeter University 4

ARGYLE’S makeshift side battled hard in this match against the high-flying students, but they were unable to create many chances and most of the action was in their own half.

Manager Jamie Ware had nine regular first teamers unavailable and worked hard all week to make extra signings to ensure Okehampton were able to field a team.

On the day, centre half James Williams had to play in goal, where he was outstanding, and Argyle were helped by Halwill’s Ryan Hauerslev and Gareth Osman, North Tawton’s Lee Coleman and Hatherleigh’s Jake Rowe — who all performed well at this higher level.

The students had the better of the first half and after a fairly even opening quarter of an hour took the lead when Ben Mogg’s cross from the right found Jamal Bartley in clear space; he placed his header into the corner of the net giving keeper James Williams no chance.

Argyle put some good moves together but generally a poor final ball saw the students regain possession and the visitors’ defence was rarely threatened. Meanwhile a combination of poor finishing by the University and some resolute Argyle defending saw the score remain at 1-0 at the interval.

Okehampton did put some pressure on the University at the start of the second half and good work by Roger Bonaparte set Ed Bradshaw up with a good chance; unfortunately he was robbed by his own player, John Coakley, who forged through with great speed but lost control of the ball as he bore down on the University goalkeeper and the chance petered out.

On 50 minutes, good work by the students saw Andy Farley’s pull back crashed home by prolific scorer Ben Mogg.

Thirteen minutes later, Mogg was allowed far too much room on the left and he was able to run into clear space and take the ball round James Williams, before firing home from a narrow angle despite a tremendous attempt by Chris Hollands to clear off the line.

Ten minutes from time the scoring was completed when Toby Yeates fired home firmly from Andy Farley’s cross.

Argyle worked hard throughout but were no match for the fitness and skill of the University. Apart from a great performance by Williams in goal, Argyle’s Alex Wren once again looked their best outfield player.