Carlsberg South West peninsula division one East

Okehampton Argyle 1

Exwick Villa 3

ARGYLE's recent run of good form was brought to an abrupt end when an inexplicably poor performance saw them lose 3-1 at home to Exwick Villa.

The visitors came to Simmons Park having picked up only one point from the previous nine games, losing their last six, to find themselves second from bottom in the League table; however, boosted by some recent signings, their performance belied their lowly position and they dominated the game from the first whistle and fully deserved their victory.

The writing was on the wall for Argyle as Exwick should have taken the lead inside the first minute but new signing Tom Beddow delayed his shot when well-placed and Harry Geering made a fine save.

Argyle did not take heed to that early warning and, after another save from Geering, Exwick took the lead in the 10th minute when Luke Skinner was given too much room inside the Argyle penalty area and he fired a low shot past Geering from 10yds.

Exwick doubled their lead four minutes later when the Argyle defence were slow to close down Fred Kingdom, whose initial shot was parried by Harry Geering, only for Tom Beddow to slot home the rebound.

Argyle were struggling to find any fluency in their play but got themselves back into the game on the half hour when James Williams crossed for Jason Cordice to head in at the far post.

Ross Voaden and Dale Chadwick both went close for Argyle and on the stroke of half time Roger Bonaparte had an effort well saved by the Exwick keeper when perhaps a square pass to Jason Cordice would have been a better option as the hosts went in a goal behind at the break.

Exwick again started the better of the two sides in the second half and were awarded a penalty when Dale Chadwick was adjudged to have handled Tom Beddow's goal bound shot.

Harry Geering saved Callum Hoare's spot kick low to his right and the resultant rebound but the referee ordered a retake for encroachment, only for Geering to make an even better save to his left.

If that was the spur Argyle needed to find an equaliser it did not materialise and on the hour Tom Beddow seized upon an under hit Chris Wills back pass and squared the ball to Jordan Harris whose mishit shot squirmed its way past Geering and nestled into the back of the Argyle net to restore Exwick a two goal cushion.

Argyle huffed and puffed in an effort to get back into the game but in truth it was Exwick who came closer to adding to their lead as they ran out comfortable winners.

'They bullied us from start to finish' was Argyle manager Kevin Taylor's honest opinion of the game on an afternoon when collectively, with the exception of a handful of saves from Harry Geering, including the penalty, Argyle, as a team, had performed poorly for the first time since the defeat at St Martins back in October.