Points shared in tremendous local derby

Okehampton Argyle First Team Match Report

South West Peninsula League Division One East

Sat 26th December

Crediton United 2  Okehampton Argyle 2

 

Both teams put on a great display of football in this Boxing Day local derby and kept a large crowd entertained right up to the final whistle.  Argyle were missing forward Dave Youlden serving a one match suspension, but still played good attacking football and had the better of midfield although Crediton looked more dangerous in front of goal and could easily have won the game in the last minute.  However a draw was a fair result and both sides will probably be happy with a point. 

 

The first twenty minutes was an even affair with both sides working hard in midfield, but on 21 minutes, Crediton's Kevin Pike showed some tricky dribbling skills to get behind Ben Williams and was brought down inside the box.  Matt Trenaman's penalty was well hit but the Okes' keeper Harry Geering produced a superb full length save to push the ball out for a corner.  Argyle's relief was short lived as four minutes later Pike challenged Ben Williams in the box and the ball broke loose for Ben Shepherd to fire home from fifteen yards.  Crediton had a slight edge for the remainder of the first half but there was no further scoring and half-time saw the game balanced on a knife edge.

 

After the break, Argyle began to create more chances and on 53 minutes Luke Alden was unlucky when a superb first time lob from a right wing cross was only inches over the bar.  Four minutes later, Alden fastened on to a beautifully weighted pass, beat his man and was brought down from behind inside the box.  Matt Mortimer stepped up to fire home a perfect penalty past Crediton keeper Fred Tonkin to restore parity.   The Okes pressed forward with their tails up at this stage but the home side were still very dangerous up front and on 62 minutes, a long left wing cross was headed back across goal by Ben Ashton for Jamie Densham to crash home giving Geering no chance.  Shortly afterwards, Geering made another brilliant save and at this stage, the Okes looked like they had a mountain to climb.  However, the managers cleverly brought on another forward Steve Kinsey from the bench and he immediately made an impact, causing the home side problems in their penalty area.  With just three minutes left, the Okes won a corner on the left and Alden's kick was brilliantly back flicked across goal by Kinsey for defender Ben Williams to dive and head home at the far post to bring the game level.  The Okes threw caution to the wind and surged forward looking for the winner and almost got caught in the last minute as Crediton found themselves on the break with four forwards against only two defenders.  Geering made another great save to parry the first effort and as the ball broke loose, Okehampton's defenders showed great courage to block a series of shots from the home players.

 

Man of the match must go to Harry Geering for a superb display but once again the whole squad put in a great performance.

 

Next Saturday

South West Peninsula League:  Totnes & Dartington home 2.15p

Devon Senior Cup 4th Round: Reserves v Wrey Arms away 2pm