Devon and Cornwall League Okehampton 1st XV 5 Cullompton 1st XV 26 ALTHOUGH the result appears worse than last week, the performance from the home side on Saturday was much improved. It was always going to be a tough ask to defeat the unbeaten visitors, but the margin of victory flattered the victors considerably. As usual Oke lost the toss and played with the slope first up. They started encouragingly and after pressure in the visitor?s bottom right hand corner, flanker Ali Mason drove over for an unconverted try and Oke were five nil up within the first five minutes. This stirred the visitors into action and with Oke also losing centre Lee Carey to injury, the home side spent long periods in their own half. Cullompton are a fit, young, well drilled side, and they soon brought the scores level when, after several phases of play the Oke defence finally got over-stretched and the visitor?s centre crashed over. The conversion was missed, as was a penalty chance soon after, and at the interval Oke were level five all. The second half began in the worst possible fashion when, almost immediately from the kick off, the visitors drove into the heart of the Oke 22. They shunted Oke over their own line and their prop came up with the score which was converted to make the score 12-5. Things got worse as the deep kick off was gathered by the visitors? impressive, strong running number eight, first up tackles were missed and after some excellent handling, Cully?s backs produced another score in the bottom right hand corner. The conversion followed and Oke were staring down the barrel, 14 points down and with only three minutes of the second half gone. It is to the home side?s credit that they were in the ascendancy for virtually the rest of the match, with player coach Brett Luxton outstanding at number eight, continuously making the hard yards. Despite the lively promptings of returning scrum half Gary Sizmur, Oke just couldn?t find a cutting edge in the backs to make the breakthrough. The strong defence of the visitors held up and the good ball supplied by the pack went unrewarded. As in last week?s match a try was conceded with the last play of the match as a short range score was grounded between the sticks leaving an easy conversion followed by the final whistle. The score flattered the visitors somewhat but showed that it?s no good winning lots of ball if you can?t create openings with it. However a much improved performance should provide encouragement for this Saturday?s trip to East Devon to take on Honiton. l Pictured below Cullompton in stripes kept under pressure from Okehampton Pictures: James Bird