Southern One

Okehampton 4

Torbay 1

ON a muggy Saturday, Okehampton faced Torbay in what is always a close affair.

Torbay started the game brighter testing the Oke side, but the defence of Simon Bourne, Jaden Reed, man mountain Rod Gers and joint man of the match Rob Hall were as solid as ever. Due to their prowess, goalie Ebby Vallance was left with not much to do. 

Oke then started to shift through the gears, with some penetrating runs from midfielders Ross Davidson, Luke Miller and Nick Luxton.

Luxton was pushing the Oke team forward and creating chances. The other joint man of the match, Sam Whalley, was starting to get the ball in higher positions and causing the visiting defence issues.

Eventually Luxton found Whalley, who managed to put the ball under the keeper for a justified lead.

The game started to open up and chances opened for both teams but Oke’s defence was expertly marshalled by Hall and Gers. 

Oke’s midfield broke quickly from defence and Miller put through a terrific reverse stick pass to Luxton in the D, who slotted the ball through for the advancing Bourne for a collector’s item goal, marked with a splendid celebration.

Shortly after, Davidson ran through the defence and got his shot off for the ball to be hit at Miller and a shot went Oke’s way.

The shot was ruthlessly hammered into the net by Whalley. Oke then went into the half time 3-0 up. Oke started the second half with a good tempo, the wide men of Speak and Lawson putting in a real shift, and the forward line spearheaded by the young Jacob Jones working hard and feeding off little service.

Some pressure from Torbay resulted in a scrappy goal going beyond Vallance, and the elusive clean sheet Okehampton desire evaded them again. The team responded fantastically and all worked extremely hard.

Some good work from midfield found Speak out on the left who stroked the ball to Lawson, and he calmly put the ball past the keeper.

Oke continued to frustrate Torbay and repelled any danger. The game finished 4-1 and Oke went into their Devon Cup semi final on Sunday with a real buzz, hoping they could reach a third Devon Cup final.

Devon Cup

Sidmouth & Ottery 2

Okehampton 3

OKEHAMPTON’S second match of the weekend came in the form of a cup semi-final away at Sidmouth and Ottery.

The first few minutes of the game saw Sidmouth dominate possession looking to get in the ascendency early on.

However, every chance the home side had to break through was promptly quelled by the industrious back four of Rob Hall, Rod Gers, Simon Bourne, and Jaden Reed, marshalled expertly by keeper George Morgan who had little to do in the opening stages.

Okehampton then began to get a hold of the game with holding midfielder Nick Luxton taking the game by the scruff of the neck and starting to weave some mazy runs round the opposition midfield.

Eventually the Okes got the breakthrough when another Luxton run ended as he hammered a shot in from the edge of the D.

With this solid foothold in the game fellow midfielders Joff Stephens and man of the match Ross Davidson made vital interceptions to turn defence into attack. This continued dominance by the away side told once more as they won themselves a short corner, much to the delight of skipper Josh Speak, reflecting the competitive nature of the game that had developed. The short corner was played out to Whalley sitting top of the D and he ruthlessly swept the ball home.

This was trademark Whalley showing why he is the club’s top scorer this season with an extraordinary 25 goals. The break came with Okehampton securely 2-0 ahead. After the break the home side began to come out again at the Okehampton side and despite some fantastic defensive work, a cleverly crafted Sidmouth short corner resulted in the score becoming 2-1.

The home side, rejuvenated by the goal, continued to dominate possession and wingers Jack Watson and Rob Yells showed their defensive class with a number of excellent tackles going in to quell the home side.

Keeper Morgan was called on a number of times in this spell and answered expertly.

This superior ability of the Okehampton side began to tell as Sidmouth got complacent seeing a number of players dismissed for ill-discipline.

With the high pressure Sidmouth had maintained in search of the equaliser, Davidson picked the ball up deep in his own half and drove forward to play in forward Jacob Jones.

The remaining Sidmouth defence was drawn to him and a simple slipped pass through to Davidson was dispatched past the keeper.

Despite the 3-1 lead the home side were not out of it and, with a minute remaining, they bagged their second of the game.

Nonetheless, striker Whalley was able to hold up the play at the edge of the pitch for the final minute.

The final whistle blew with the score at 3-2, securing Okehampton’s place in the final of the cup on April 1.

Pictures from Saturday’s league victory against Torbay by James Bird.