Devon & Cornwall League St Austell 1st XV 13 Okehampton 1st XV 22 THIS was a real curate's egg of a performance from the Okes. It was a match in which the pack that dominated Wadebridge last week failed to hit the same heights, but still the team came home with a valuable victory. Playing up the slope, with a strong breeze at their backs, Okehampton had the perfect start when, with only a few minutes on the clock, full back Gareth Espin again showed his value to the side. He joined the line from counter attack ball, and from just inside his own half he outpaced the home defence to cross for a fine try. The score was unconverted and Okehampton had started brightly. But instead of capitalising on this good start, Okehampton failed to use the elements effectively and took the wrong option of trying to run the ball from their own 22. It was spilled and the home fly half picked up the loose ball and crossed to the left of the posts for an unconverted score. The Saints were now level and their bulky pack was in the ascendancy. Okehampton were struggling to win clean ball and kept making the error of taking what ball they did win back into the strength of the Cornish forwards. When Okehampton did spread the ball, their backs had the attacking edge over their opponents. They proved this shortly before the interval when fly half Buzz Brimmacombe saw a gap, used his pace and scored a fine individual try to regain the lead for his side. The conversion was unsuccessful and the half-time score was 10-5 to Okehampton. Okehampton realised they had to keep the ball away from the home pack in the second half if they were to return home with a victory. St Austell continued to win a lot of ball, but their backs never looked incisive enough to punish Okehampton. But the home side did win a penalty early in the second period which their full back converted to close the gap to two points. Midway through the second period, Okehampton stretched their lead with a score from nothing. A kick out of defence by Okehampton seemed to be heading for touch, the home side watched and waited for the ball to go out of play. It did not and the most alert person on the pitch was fly half Brimmacombe who chased then gathered the ball and strolled in unopposed, scarcely able to believe it himself. This time winger Martin Holgate converted and the score was 17-5 and Okehampton had a useful cushion entering the last quarter. It was not long before Okehampton had another score in the bag. This time from a scrum near halfway, a neat flick from No 8 Mason, allowed scrum half Gary Sizmur to exploit the blind side and feed winger Holgate for a well worked try wide out in the left corner. Although unconverted, the try left the home side with a mountain to climb. They did ascend slightly when their winger found a gap to score in the last five minutes, but this had no impact on the final result. Okehampton had won 22-13 and another valuable two league points were gained. To sum up, Okehampton found themselves in the unusual position of being outfought up front and had to rely on a change from their normal game plan to achieve victory. This will stand them in good stead for this week's match against the forward orientated game plan of South Molton. If Okehampton can use their backs effectively again, another away victory is a distinct possibility and security in the league for another season should be achieved.