Friendly Tavistock AFC 0 Stoke Gabriel 3 ON a sunny afternoon, newly promoted South West Peninsula Premiership Stoke Gabriel recorded a victory over the Lambs. The home team were forced to make changes from the team that hosted Plymouth Argyle with four key players not available due to holiday commitments. The game was a close thing, between two evenly matched sides, but it was the visitors that carried the greater attacking threat in the attacking third of the pitch. The Lambs were producing some fine passing. They were awarded a free kick just outside the penalty area in the 15th minute when Ian Rooke was brought down. Dave Hallett's fine free kick was pawed away to safety by the visiting keeper. The first goal came from a defensive mix up; new keeper Piper took a short goal kick to his centre back but he lost the ball when tackled by Dean Stevens who then hit a 20 yard low into the bottom corner of the net in the 20th minute. Play continued to flow from end to end, providing some good viewing for the supporters of both sides. The visitors saw two good efforts go wide of the target in the 26th and on the half hour. Dan Follett shot just over the bar from 22 yards out in the 38th minute. The visitors were then awarded a free kick, which seemed to be very harsh, but Piper made a magnificent save low down to his left. Nine minutes into the second period the visitors were awarded a penalty when a Lambs defender handled the ball in the penalty area. A fierce shot from just inside the penalty area struck the defender, who was only a few yards away and had no chance of getting out of the way. Stevens scored with the spot kick to make it 2-0 to the visitors. The Lambs continued to play some attractive football but still lacked punch in the attacking third. Stevens completed his hat trick in the 84th minute when he unleashed an unstoppable left foot volley from 30 yards that arrowed into the top corner of the Lambs' net. There will not be a better goal scored at Langsford Park this season. Had the Lambs not been sloppy in giving away the first goal, and the penalty decision had not gone against them, then it would have been a closer contest. Although this was another defeat, there are lots of positives to take from these two games. The team is now producing some fine football under manager Kevin Hendy and their fitness levels have definitely improved. The team still needs to find that cutting edge in and around the penalty area.