Carlsberg South West Peninsula division one East

Okehampton Argyle 2

Crediton Utd 4

A MUCH weakened Argyle side were forced to re-shuffle their squad and had to include manager Jamie Ware on the right side of defence. They also gave central defender Lee Coleman his first ever Peninsula League game and he performed well throughout but Argyle, with only one substitute eventually had to concede to Crediton despite a courageous and hard working display from the whole team.

The first half was just about even but Argyle had a slight edge as they forced the pace down the slope with some slick passing movements. They were denied the lead on 10 minutes when Callum Ausden’s tremendous headed ’goal’ was disallowed because the referee and linesman decided the ball was out of play before the cross came in.

Then on 29 minutes, the visitors took the lead after good work by Steve Morrish set up Richard Blake for a slick finish. Argyle fought back and a minute before the interval, Chris Holland’s deep free kick was powerfully headed home by Dale Chadwick to level the scores.

Crediton started the second half strongly and regained the lead only a minute after the break when Simon Durrant produced a clinical finish from 15 yards.

Argyle pushed back and had chances to level the game but as the match moved into the last 30 minutes, Argyle’s legs started to give out. Just when fresh legs were needed from the substitutes’ bench, Roger Bonaparte who had had a great game had to leave the field with an injury and Argyle had to bring on their only sub forward John Coakley to replace him.

The team still fought on bravely, but on 68 minutes, Craig Skinner fired home a tremendous shot from 20 yards to increase the visitors’ lead and eight minutes later Crediton broke through on the left hand side of the goal area and Richard Blake finished from close in. To their credit, Okehampton kept battling on and with four minutes left, John Coakley burst through the visitors’ defence and provided Jason Cordice with a tap-in goal to complete the scoring.

This result leaves Argyle sitting bottom of the table with only two points from 11 games, but if the lads can keep putting in the effort like Saturday and get their full squad back, then hopefully their fortunes will turn.

Recent winners (all £25) in the Argyle 200 club draw are: September 6, number 193, A Drew; September 13, no 133, R Wooldridge; September 20, no 64, C Beer; September 27, no 173, H Reynolds.