Devon & Exeter Premier
Hatherleigh Town 3
Willand Rovers 2
THIS good win for Hatherleigh pushes them up to fifth in the league.
Changes were made to the side: Jamie Bruce returned from injury to partner Pearson at centre back, pushing Endacott across to right back. Patrick Jones made a rare start on the left, but was injured after 15 minutes and replaced by Trev Cleave.
Hatherleigh started brightly and played some good football on a rain-sodden pitch.
A slick passing move saw the ball moved from right to left where Dymond collected. He beat his man and drove the ball low across the six yard box. With bodies
flying in, the ball could have easily gone in and Willand was relieved to see it touched out for a corner.
A defensive lapse saw a Willand attacker go through on goal but he lost his footing and shot wide.
The opening goal came early in the second half, after good play down the left. Cleave cut inside and played a one-two with James. When the ball came back to him Cleave smashed his shot into the roof of the net from 20 yards.
This stung Willand into action and the home team had to be strong defensively to keep their lead intact. With this in mind Lloyd Chapman came on for Harris and Hatherleigh switched to a 4-5-1 formation.
When the defence was breached Willand found keeper Gary Toop in fine form.
Hatherleigh earned themselves some breathing space by adding two more goals. The second came from a free kick. Pearson drilled the ball in and following a couple of ricochets it dropped to Dymond for a simple tap-in.
Goal three was the pick of the bunch. Chapman carried the ball forward and with the visiting keeper off his line, floated a delightful shot into the far corner from 25 yards.
This should have been the end of proceedings, but the referee decided to play 55 minutes in the second half and Willand almost snatched an undeserved point.
This Sunday sees Hatherleigh up against Halwill in the Okehampton Cup, kick-off 2pm.