Okehampton Cup Final
Tap & Barrel 5
(Gary Webb 3, Nathan Melton, Shane Maddock)
Hatherleigh Town 4
(Paul Harris, Simon James 2,
Simon White)
A HAT-TRICK from man of the match Gary Webb saw Tap & Barrel win what was the best Okehampton Cup final for a long time.
Hatherleigh started the brighter and had a few early chances but in the 10th minute Gary Webb opened his account. Latching on to a through-ball he took it around Gary Toop and slotted into the net.
Five minutes later Tap almost made it 2-0 with a shot that went just over the bar.
From the resulting goal-kick Hatherleigh equalised. The ball was played to Simon White and his cross found Paul Harris who scored from eight yards out.
In the 27th minute the Tap keeper fumbled a shot from Simon James but was quick enough to collect the ball at the second bite. James then put Hatherleigh into the driving seat on the half-hour when an excellent move down the right wing was followed by a cross from Simon Pearson. It was was tapped onto James who lifted the ball over the keeper to make it 2-1.
Tap equalised seven minutes later when Gary Webb turned provider and latched on to a long pass, then crossed the ball in for Nathan Melton to score.
In the 41st minute White scored Hatherleigh's third from a corner to make the half-time score 3-2 to the West Devon side.
The second half was barely two minutes old when Shane Maddock scored Tap & Barrel's equaliser.
White then missed a good chance, flashing his shot wide of the post. Minutes later Webb hit his second, running on to a pass and lifting the ball over a stranded Gary Toop.
Straight from the kick-off Simon James scored Hatherleigh's equaliser with a looping header from just inside the penalty area.
With ten minutes to go Simon Pearson was robbed on the by-line and the resulting cross found the head of Webb for his hat-trick to make the score 5-4.
With the game entering the final minutes Tap & Barrel just eased the time out.