Carlsberg SW Peninsula division one East

Okehampton Argyle 2 Exeter Civil Service 1

ALTHOUGH Exeter Civil Service are lying in the lower reaches of the league , this was never going to be an easy game for the Okes.

Exeter CS had already beaten Argyle at Simmons Park in the County Cup this season and held Argyle to a draw in the away league fixture. On a difficult surface and with a blustery wind, both teams attempted to play good football and served up an exciting match.

A scrappy opening 15 minutes saw neither side take control on the heavy pitch, and when the opening goal arrived on 18 minutes it was Argyle who took the lead. Will Hawking picked up the ball on the edge of the box and moved to the left before superbly turning back on himself to shoot low pass the outstretched arm of Gibbons in the Civil goal and into the bottom right hand corner of the net.

The goal seemed to rejuvenate Civil who pressed Okehampton back and were unfortunate not to gain an equaliser. On 26 minutes, Taylor's shot was superbly saved by Harry Geering in the Okehampton goal; a minute later Densham headed over and on the half hour, Taylor again, saw his long range effort hit the right hand post. With Civil pushing forward for an equaliser, Argyle punished them with a well worked attack. On 35 minutes, Luke Alden on the left for Oke went on a great run down the touchline, cut inside and beat another defender on the edge of the box and delivered a superb low cross for Hawking to fire the ball into the roof of the net.

The second half began in an even fashion with some exciting end to end football, but it was Civil who scored the only goal of the half on 65 minutes. A long cross was punched away by Geering but fell kindly to the visitor's Sean Densham who made no mistake.

Argyle should have put the game out of reach on 70 minutes. Squire and Hawking combined well, but Hawking shot well over the bar. On 77 minutes, Argyle had a strong appeal for a penalty turned down after Hawking appeared to be held back in the box and two minutes later Dave Youlden's long range effort went inches wide as Gibbons in the Civil goal went walkabout.

Argyle really had to grind out this result against a Civil side who belied their League position. Ed Squire had a strong game for Argyle in midfield and Will Hawking led the front line well, but man of the match was Matt Mortimer who put in a faultless display in the centre of the defence.