Devon and Cornwall League Okehampton 1st XV 3 Honiton 1st XV 10 YET again Okehampton managed to lose a game they should have comfortably won. Honiton were resolute and defended bravely but the home side did not really start to play until too late in the day. After the previous excellent performance at Crediton this made the result doubly disappointing. The day started badly with a late cry off and another lost toss. Okehampton played down the slope with the elements, but despite having the lion's share of possession and territory, failed to turn this into a sufficient lead. Their bad luck continued when Lee Carey, back after a lengthy absence, was forced to leave the field through injury after only a couple of minutes. His replacement, Martin Holgate, kicked a penalty to put Okehampton ahead, but missed two other chances to increase the lead. Okehampton struggled with their own lineouts and lost a couple of strikes against the head. This, added to numerous turnovers and spurned overlaps when in the opposition 22, resulted in the half time lead being a slender 3-0. With the wind and slope in their favour Honiton soon levelled the scores when needless handling in a ruck gave the visiting fly half a straightforward penalty chance. The match became a midfield battle with neither side looking likely to score until Okehampton made a fatal error. With clean possession in their own 22, they failed to clear to touch and decided to try to drive tightly through the pack. A Honiton scrum was awarded, followed by a quickly taken free kick which allowed a forward drive resulting in a converted score under the posts. A score that could easily been avoided and one which probably cost the home side two vital league points. Okehampton now had to chase the game and were forced to run easily kickable penalties to try and tie the score. They had numerous chances to score, but failed to convert them. The home pack, now with a man advantage due to sin-binning, frequently reached the try line, on a couple of occasions crossing it. However, the referee deemed the ball 'held up' and the visitors escaped. The final whistle went and a sense of déja vu was prevalent as the home side yet again failed to take anything from a winnable home game. Lessons need to be learned as failure to win at home could prove costly. Luckily the other struggling sides all lost, but Okehampton should not have to rely on favours from other sides to stay up. Next up is a tricky away match against Wessex. Okehampton will be looking to re-find their Christmas form and register a much need victory.
