Carlsberg South West Peninsula League division one East

Teignmouth 4

Okehampton Argyle 1

OKEHAMPTON slid to their fourth defeat on the trot at Teignmouth's Coombe Valley.

After an agreed early kick-off, on a pitch that was a quagmire due to the heavy rains, Argyle took the lead after just 34 seconds of play. Alex Wren's perfectly weighted through ball found John Wiseman whose first time lofted shot from 25 yards went over home keeper Darren Shrubb and below the crossbar to start the game in dramatic style.

The heavens then opened for a while and with the early start it was even possible that the game could have been abandoned before it reached its scheduled 3pm kick off time! Fortunately the weather gradually improved during the afternoon and the full 90 minutes was played.

Teignmouth were back on level terms after some 27 minutes when player-manager Geoff Breslan shot low from a good 30 yards and Argyle keeper Dave Smith (normally an outfield player) seemed to lose sight of the ball as it went in for the equaliser.

Argyle almost gained the lead when a well worked corner from the left saw Dale Chadwick's header cleared off the line, but four minutes before half time the hosts nudged themselves in front as Matt Eves lifted his shot above the advancing Dave Smith and into the empty net.

A characteristic of Okehampton's recent dip in form has been a lack of concentration at the back at the start of the second half and this was to prove their undoing again.

Five minutes after the interval, Teignmouth went from 2-1 up to 4-1 up and effectively killed the game.

Firstly Stephen Shrubb scored with a low drive from an acute angle across the Argyle goal and then two minutes later a Matt Eves' corner kick was powerfully headed home by the completely unmarked Teignmouth central defender Scott Baxter.

Argyle had the better of the last 30 minutes and gamefully tried to come back, but were unable to apply the finishing touch to several good moves. The best effort came from substitute Steve Kinsey whose powerful header was blocked by a defender.

The pick of Argyle's team were the hard working midfielders Ed Squire and Jake Batizovzsky, who grafted all afternoon.

Argyle matched their hosts in many areas of the field for the bulk of the game and the score does not reflect the difference between the teams, but on the day, Teignmouth deserved the win due to their better defending and finishing.