Carlsberg South West peninsula division one east

Alphington 1

Okehampton Argyle 0

OKEHAMPTON's recent poor run of form continued with this narrow defeat to Alphington at the Chronicles.

Despite manager Kevin Taylor having a larger squad to choose from, the continued absence of strikers Adam Mortimer and Jason Cordice proved to be a contributing factor in the defeat as chances for Argyle were once again at a premium and those that were created were missed.

The first half in truth was a scrappy affair as neither side dominated for any considerable period, with the best chance of the half falling to Alphington's Sean Adderley who saw his goal bound header superbly saved by Oke's Harry Geering.

Oli Crimmins forced the Alphington keeper into a smart save on the half hour mark and Roger Bonaparte should have given Oke the lead on the stroke of half time but shot wide when well placed.

Alphington started the second half the brighter of the two sides and after going close when Nick Murray headed against the Argyle crossbar, they deservedly went in front in the 62nd minute.

On the balance of play there could be no denying Alphington the lead, but their goal had an element of luck about it as Kyle Howell's cross cum shot deceived Harry Geering and went into the net off the far post. Okehampton had Harry Geering to thank for keeping them in the game with another save and for the final 20 minutes they gave it a right go to get an equaliser.

Almost on the final whistle Argyle should have levelled matters and gone away with a share of the spoils but as Roger Bonaparte latched onto Tallan Burns' pass, the ball would not come down quickly enough and his shot was blocked on the line.

All in all Argyle could have no complaints about the result as they had not played well enough to deserve anything out of the game. Although they defended far better than in the previous three weeks, manager Kevin Taylor will be concerned that without Adam Mortimer and Jason Cordice, his side currently lacks a cutting edge and clear goal scoring chances are becoming few and far between.

THE winners (all £25) in the Argyle 200 club draw for October 12 were number 21, D Hayes; October 19, no 88, Mr Williams and October 26, no 50, B Short.