Devon & Exeter Premier

St Martin's 3

WITH five team players unavailable and 3-0 down with 20 minutes to go, Hatherleigh's start to the festive season looked to be a bleak one. However, three powerful finishes brightened the outlook, and Hatherleigh earned a highly appreciated point.

As the Christmas holidays had begun, manager Jon Hayman was fortunate to be able to draw on local university students to fill the gaps illness had left in his side. Playing a 3-5-2 formation, Hatherleigh started positively, finding lots of space in and around the St Martin's defence.

Although having enjoyed the lion's share of possession, as has been typical of their season so far, Hatherleigh fell behind to a soft goal — a scramble in their goal area led to a ball rebounding off Hayman's legs, onto a retreating defender and ending up in the net.

Hatherleigh responded brightly and were unfortunate to see a Simon James equaliser disallowed for offside by the linesman, after the referee had clearly waved play on.

The tides of play changed dramatically during the second half, with St Martin's dominating the first 26 minutes, taking a deserved three-goal lead, and bombarding the Hatherleigh defence throughout.

Andy Harnell then turned the game around, hitting two quick goals from within ten yards, both finished superbly, to pull the away side back into the game.

Hatherleigh continued to press for the equaliser, creating chance after chance. It finally came with three minutes to go, courtesy of a tremendous strike into the top corner from Paul Harris.

Hatherleigh showed great determination and character to earn this point, but they will need to build on this and eliminate some basic errors from their game to secure a mid-table finish.

This Saturday home to Exeter Civil Service, kick-off 2.30pm.