Taunton Civil Service Mens B 0
Okehampton Mens' A 3
THE game started off quite scrappily with both teams losing the ball quite easily, before Okehampton decided to up a gear, with the speed of Brett Lawson on the left and Stuart Jarvis on the right and the power of Mike Reynolds as centre forward looking to muscle his way through the Taunton defence.
Okehampton's first goal came after 15 minutes from a short corner taken by Sam Spry to Chris Searle, who slotted the ball into the bottom left of the goal. The goal sparked Taunton into life who had a sustained spell of pressure and had thought that they equalised through a short corner of their own, but it was wrongly disallowed by the umpires.
This acted as a wake up call for Okehampton who managed to hold on to the break leading 1-0.
Okehampton started the second half reshuffling the squad putting Sam Spry as a central defensive midfielder to support the defence with long balls from the side.
It was a role which he clearly relished, putting in an outstanding performance which was rewarded with a goal when he picked up the ball from the Taunton keeper and thundered the ball into the net. Okehampton started to dominate the game. Mike Reynolds was harshly sent off for a stick tackle but despite being a man down, Okehampton never stopped putting effort in, something that has been lacking from previous games. Taunton did have their chances when the striker found himself in front of an open goal one yard out, but managed to strike the ball across the goal.
Taunton were made to pay for missing their chances when Brett Lawson passed the ball to Chris Searle who scored his second, Okehampton's third and putting the game beyond any doubt. This was a good start to the league and a good result for Okehampton, not only for the score line but for the general performance as well.
Okehampton return to Taunton in two weeks to play Taunton Vale.
Man of the match – Sam Spry.