Devon and Exeter six

Exwick Village 5

South Zeal United 2

SOUTH Zeal knew this would be a tricky fixture as they scrapped through with a 2-1 victory in the home games

United started brightly with Samuel Jones getting plenty of possession down the right flank in the opening ten minutes. This saw Zeal create a few scoring chances. Adam Clark had the most clear cut chance of the early exchanges, poaching the ball from the defender before going one on one with the keeper. His finishing, however, let him down as he was only able to find the side netting.

Zeal were quiet, and it is was the lack of communication that finally cost them as Exwick were able to capitalise on a mix-up in defence. A clinical finish gave the home side the lead. The visitors continued to play in a sloppy manner. gifting the opposition the ball in all areas of the pitch.

It was not long before Village had found the net again, this time a stunning vollied strike leaving keeper Matt Dennis rooted to the spot to make it 2-0. From here Zeal went to pieces. Straight from the kick off they lost the ball without any fight and Exwick had the ball in the away side’s net once again, for the third of the game.

Half time came and Zeal coach Garry Smith gave a stern talk, to a team who were all clearly not on their game. Zeal came out like a new side for the first 15 minutes of the half, making use of Ryan Dennis’ pace down the left wing and linking up with Harley Cann, the ball was flashed across the face of goal for Tom Reilly to tuck home. Minutes later Zeal produced an almost carbon copy move, the end result not the same though as Tom fired a wild effort over the bar from close range.

Zeal’s early pressure in the half soon faded as Exwick, seemly from nothing, sent a long ball over the defence before finishing another neat move to take the score to 4-1. Play became scrappy in the middle of the park, and Zeal were awarded a free kick on the end of the box. The ball was sent deep into the Exwick area. Tom Reilly was there once again to send a beautiful looping header over the keeper and into the net for 4-2. Before long all hope of a comeback was lost as the simplest of passing moves from the home side left Zeal with their worst performance and defeat of the season.