Devon and Exeter premier

Hatherleigh 0

Okehampton 2

OKEHAMPTON kept up their undefeated run which stretches back to late November, going with a hard fought 2-0 away win at close neighbours Hatherleigh.

Due to the close rivalry of both teams it was always going to be a closely matched and edgy affair, which is exactly how the 90 minutes ended up, with plenty of endeavour and commitment from both teams but lacking any real moments of quality especially in the second 45 minutes.

Argyle opened the scoring in the 25th minute when an Hatherleigh defender was penalised for handball in his own box; the resulting penalty was coolly dispatched into the bottom right hand corner by Brad Ausden.

Ten minutes later Okehampton were 2-0 up when Tallan Burns received the ball out on the left hand side, jinked past the Hatherleigh right back and struck a sweet left footer which was brilliantly saved by the Hatherleigh keeper; however, unfortunately for Hatherleigh it landed at the feet of Okehampton centre forward Sam Read, who made no mistake from five yards out.

The second half was almost entirely played out in the middle of the pitch with neither team able to gain any real tempo or control, but there were a couple of chances at each end with the Hatherleigh number nine hitting an absolutely beauty from 30 yards which was well saved by the Okehampton keeper Harry Gearing. Brad Ausden for Oke curled a 20 yarded just past the Hatherleigh upright with the Hatherleigh keeper routed to the spot.

Okehampton will be disappointed with the performance but will be happy they came away with another three points and Hatherleigh will be disappointed they came away with nothing. The the only real difference on the day between the two sides was the finishing, the rest of the contest was evenly matched and if Hatherleigh had taken one of the chances they had in the second half, the result could have been a lot different; despite the close rivalry between both sides, the game was played fairly and in good spirits with the referee only booking a couple of players during the 90 minutes.