Royal Oak U15s
Looe 2
Tavistock Thistles 5
THISTLES produced a superb team effort to defeat Looe.
Despite having to make several late team changes Thistles started confidently with the strong wind in their faces.
The defence, with Steven Lake and James Meckiff outstanding, restricted the Looe attack to long range efforts, but Thistles began to mount attacks of their own, with the pace of Gary Toms and Darren Phillips causing problems.
Thistles took the lead when Toms burst clear to score on his debut. Looe came back strongly but were not able to threaten the visitors? goal, thanks to the hard working Matt Stephens, Paul Gibbings, Andrew Wallace and Jack Yeo, who covered every inch of the pitch.
Thistles continued to press and it was no surprise when another good through ball saw Gary Toms pounce to make it 2-0.
After the break Thistles, with the wind in their favour, were put under early pressure from a determined Looe, but most attacks were broken up by the excellent Lake and the consistent Joseph Busuttil.
Despite a period of pressure Thistles broke away to score a third, again the scorer was Toms to complete a hat-trick.
Looe pulled one back but Alex Dingle in the Thistles goal had an excellent game.
Thistles continued to press and leading goalscorer Darren Phillips decided to get in on the act, scoring goals four and five for Thistles.
Looe scored with a superb shot to make it 5-2 and mounted a series of attacks down their right flank but Nick Lovering stood firm and cleared the danger several times before the final whistle.