Steven Hill

Memorial Cup

Moretonhampstead 3

Chagford 6

CHAGFORD retained the annual trophy with comfort but not before their hosts gave them an almighty scare.

Stuart Potter opened Chagford's account with a deft touch on 22 minutes. Andrew Davis' superb volley ten minutes later doubled the score and Chagford were in the driving seat. Moretonhampstead refused to lie down and hauled themselves back into contention with straight-forward approach play and stronger tackling.

Just before the break, Geering fouled an attacker as he rushed from his goal and Rui de Garces converting the penalty for Moretonhampstead.

The narrowness of the score gave the home side heart and, in the 52nd minute, they equalised through de Garces' swerving shot.

Two quick replies, for Chagford, took the wind out of their opponents though. The unmarked Will Hutchison shot home from 25 yards. Within a minute Josh Stanbury was fouled in the area with Robbie Miller calmly putting away the penalty.

Moretonhampstead kept coming and pulled back another goal as de Garces completed his hat-trick with a superb free-kick in the 80th minute. Chagford's Euan Stone, who had controlled the midfield, had the last say with a superb finish after Stanbury and Alex Gavillet had combined well.

This was a heartening performance from Chagford that bodes well for the new season.

Friendly

Bickleigh Reserves 3

Chagford Reserves 1

THE importance of the results mattered little compared to the visitors ending the game with two badly injured players.

Goal scorer Zak Fehim suffered a fractured skull and Adam Stanton belatedly found he had a fractured jaw.

Both youngsters will be out for weeks, a severe loss to their team.