Carlsberg South West Peninsula division one East

Exeter University 2

Okehampton Argyle 2

THIS was a pleasing away draw for Okehampton against a weakened University side but Argyle will be kicking themselves for not bringing home all three points from a match in which they led twice.

Argyle struggled to find the form they had shown on Easter Monday with the last pass often going astray and too often the ball was played long to try to exploit Steve Williams' pace.

Against a fast and fit University defence that sat deep all game this tactic produced very little for Argyle. In fact the students looked more dangerous early on and they were unlucky not to take the lead on 27 minutes when a fast break out of defence saw a firm shot rebound from Harry Geering's post with the Argyle defenders outnumbered.

Okehampton began to settle down after this and started to string some good passing movements together and on 44 minutes Stuart Entwhistle played a ball to Frankie Nomah-Koneh on the edge of the box which the centre-forward controlled skilfully before placing a firm shot in the corner of the net to give the visitors a deserved lead.

This lead was short lived however, as with seconds remaining to the interval, Argyle's midfield showed incredible naivety by all moving forward to chase a long clearance from Geering. The high ball was won easily by the University defence and moved rapidly downfield where Argyle's three defenders found themselves trying to mark five University players. There was nothing the defence could do as Matt Minett's right wing cross was volleyed home by Tom Arnold to square the game.

Okehampton produced the better chances in the second half and took the lead on 75 minutes when Kel Fofala's pass was volleyed home by Entwhistle from the edge of the box for the goal of the match.

Again Argyle failed to consolidate and the students were level within three minutes when the Okehampton's defence was opened up by a straightforward through ball and the resulting cross was headed home by Luke Davis.

Argyle revitalised their midfield by bringing on substitutes Ed Squire and Jonjo Fellows who added extra pace and both teams could have won the game late on with better finishing. However, all in all a draw was probably a fair result in a match in which both sides deserve credit for trying to play football throughout and which was well controlled by the referee.

Matt Mortimer was again a pillar of strength in the Okehampton defence and Stuart Entwhistle, Darren Prouse and James Williams all worked tirelessly in midfield.