South West peninsula division one East

Okehampton Argyle 3

Totnes and Dartington 2

PRIOR to the game Argyle manager Kevin Taylor was fretting at the loss of 12 of his squad. He need not have worried as his 'patched up' team produced a gutsy display, allied to a fair amount of skill and despite missing two penalties, deservedly won this five goal thriller at Simmons Park.

Sometimes, in the face of adversity, a team can produce a performance full of determination and, rather than feel sorry for themselves, Argyle started the game brightly and went at Totnes from the first whistle.

Taylor had draughted in a handful of players from the second team and also asked several of his players to play in unfamiliar positions but, such was Argyle's dominance, that Tallan Burns, Luke Alden and Ross Voaden tore at the Totnes defence at regular intervals in a lively opening 20 minutes.

All that was missing was a goal and Argyle were presented with the perfect opportunity to open the scoring in the 22nd minute when Luke Alden's weaving run was halted as he was fouled just inside the penalty area, but Tallan Burns' spot kick lacked power and direction and was easily saved by Totnes keeper Dan Woods.

A minute later, and totally against the run of play, Totnes scored when Liam Collings was afforded too much room and curled a delightful shot past Aaron Dearing from all of 30 yards.

It was a lead that Totnes held until three minutes into the second half when Ross Voaden collected a pass from Luke Alden, dribbled his way past four Totnes players before driving the ball low past Dan Woods from the edge of the penalty area.

Eight minutes later and Argyle were in front when Tallan Burns beat two players on the left flank and cut the ball back to Ed Squire who side stepped his marker before firing low into the bottom corner. Argyle had the opportunity to increase their lead on the hour when Ross Voaden was upended in the penalty area and in the ensuing melee Totnes defender Dan Hurrell was shown a straight red card for a bad foul on the young Argyle striker: however, just as Tallan Burns had done in the first half, Roger Bonaparte under hit his spot kick which was again saved by Totnes keeper Dan Woods.

Having gone down to ten men, Totnes had their best spell and drew level in the 70th minute when Liam Collings scored his second goal of the game from a sweetly struck free kick that hit both posts before nestling in the back of the Argyle net. Not to be outdone, Argyle retook the lead in the 83rd minute when Luke Alden beat several players down the left and crossed for Ed Squire to head home his second and Argyle's third.

In the closing stages Luke Alden was unlucky not to increase Argyle's lead when he had one shot well saved by Dan Woods and another effort shave the post with the keeper well beaten as Argyle finished the game deserved winners.

At the final whistle, Argyle manager Kevin Taylor was full of praise for his players, in particular Steve Madge in midfield and also his injured captain Alex Wren.