Launceston 0

Bere Alston United 2

WHEN their backs are against the wall Bere Alston usually come out fighting and this was one of their typical whole hearted team performances.

Launceston came into the game on the back of a splendid win at Sticker the previous week, but with their first team inactive they included four Peninsula regulars in their squad.

The home side started brightly with Paul Cowling and Richard Graves looking dangerous and it was Graves who came closest to opening the scoring when he headed narrowly wide and then forced Craig Howells into a smart save with a curling effort from the edge of the box. Bere slowly began to get a foothold in the game with Nick Aplin starting to threaten down the right and Will Westlake and Aaron Rockey taking control in midfield.

Mike Curtis and Joe Hodgkiss both went close for Bere who took the lead in the 25th minute when Nick Aplin latched onto a Mike Curtis flick on to shoot low into the bottom corner. The remainder of the half was pretty even with chances at both ends, the best of which saw Craig Howells pull off a fantastic save from Graves just before the break.

It was Bere who started the second half in the ascendancy with Mike Curtis, Dan Follett and Joe Hodgkiss all going close to increasing their lead while Mark Wheeler and Lee Howells were keeping things tight at the back having got to grips with the Launceston front pair.

Bere eventually got their second goal midway through the half when James Elliott sent Mike Curtis racing clear of the Launceston defence with a delightful ball over the top and Curtis lobbed the onrushing keeper for a cool finish.

Launceston brought on three first teamers in a bid to get themselves back in the game, but Bere's defence stood up to the challenge and although Craig Howells was rarely troubled in the final 20 minutes it took two last ditch tackles from James Elliott to keep Bere's two goal lead intact.

Bere were still very dangerous on the counter attack and came close to increasing their lead once or twice in the closing stages.

This was an excellent team performance by Bere that secured another fine away win.