Western Counties West

Okehampton 6

North Petherton 31

THE faint dreams of promotion are over for the Okes after this comprehensive defeat against champions elect North Petherton. The visitors are throwing everything at promotion and it showed, as their strong side boasting South Sea Islanders and ex-Bridgwater national league players proved too good for their youthful hosts. The Okes should not be too downhearted though as Petherton produced a high level performance. However the Okes failed to really get going at all, and their unbeaten run at home went without the close encounter many had predicted.

Okehampton had the slope first up and the tactic by the well drilled visitors of keeping the ball alive at contact time caused their hosts problems all afternoon. Okes cause was not helped when winger Rob Fishleigh was forced to leave the field very early on, to be replaced by young second team fly half Jordan Lee.

It was Oke though, who against the run of play, took the lead with a well struck penalty from fly half Carl Poynton. This was from a rare sortie into North Petherton territory though, as Oke were finding it difficult to secure possession.

The Okes defended for long periods, but stuck to their task well. Into the visitors 22 yard line for only the second time Okehampton were rewarded with a penalty, converted by centre Kevin Dennis. But North Petherton were not to be denied and an overlap up the left flank saw winger Hancock touch down wide out. The score was unconverted and the interval arrived with Okehampton holding a narrow one point lead.

In the second half things soon got even tougher for the Okes when visiting scrum half Tracey went over after errors by the home side. The visitors were gradually taking more control and apart from the odd advantage at scrum time, the Okes were living of rations of possession and territory. The lead was extended for the visitors as centre James Carter bounced off attempted tackles to score with full back Roberts adding the conversion.

Cracks began to appear in the Oke defensive line as the inevitable tiredness crept in. The visitors were not finished yet and took full advantage to create two more scores; from Brown and Griffin, both converted by Roberts to make it 31-6.

Oke deserved a score for their efforts but failed to create any real openings. When the final whistle went their was a sense of despondency but they were beaten by a better side. There were some plusses for the Okes, another fine display of full back tackling from Matt Dennis and a forceful effort from second rower Neal Perrott.