SWPFL Div 1 East Bovey Tracey V Exwick Villa 31st Aug 2015

[Dave]

Carlsberg Southwest Peninsula League Division One East

Bovey Tracey AFC Vs Exwick Villa AFC

Bank Holiday Monday 31st August 2015 Kick-Off 3pm

Venue……Mill Marsh Park Bovey Tracey

Referee Ali Soliman

Final Score Bovey Tracey 4 Exwick Villa 1

A wet and dull start to the day, nothing new there then for a bank holiday Monday and while the rain stopped mid morning, it remained very cloudy and overcast the rest of the morning.During the match the sun did come out a number of times making it a pleasant afternoon.I had to try and remember the last time I went and watched Bovey play at home, I managed to find this old thread I put up on the game, on the 22nd April 2011.

davesworld.proboards.com/thread/117/bovey-tracey-buckland-22nd-april

That day the mighty Buckland Athletic won the game four one with a Lynch hat trick, what an exciting player he was to watch back then. Lynch also played a big part in much of the early success that Buckland Athletic enjoyed before Adam Castle took over as the manager My match reports have come on a long way since then and times are certainly different then they were then as well.

Both Bovey Tracey and Exwick Villa have made identical starts to this new season. They have both played before today’s game five games each, winning two, drawing one and losing two. Bovey has scored eight goals and conceded eight, while Exwick has scored only five and conceded six. Both had seven points and so this really was an early season six pointer.

Exwick Villa came to Bovey looking for a win; they knew their next home game was against top of the table side St Martins, a team who have played six games so far this season and won all of them, scoring twenty one goals in the process.

Bovey Tracey were looking to bounce back after being defeated by three goals to one in their last match away to the University Of Exeter, a game they had to play with ten men for seventy minutes after debutant Tarmitayo Fam got himself sent off. Bovey’s next home game after this one is on Wednesday the 9th September with a 7.30pm kick-off against the University Of Exeter. A game they will surely want to win and a good win today would sure give the Bovey side plenty of confidence to take into that match.

What a cracking game of football and well worth the entrance money two hard working teams who gave their all for the whole ninety minutes. At halftime I thought there was only going to be one winner, how wrong I was in the end.

Many thanks to the referee Ali Soliman for all his help with the team sheet and what a fine game he had in the middle. Kept the game flowing and got nearly every decision spot on. Who is the grounds man out at Bovey? Have to say that was the best looking pitch I have seen in a long time, even the grass was a special sort of green.

Exwick started the much better of the two teams and it was clear they had a few old heads that were running the show. Exwick could have taken an early lead when Dean Smith in goal for Bovey came running out to a lose ball. Jordan Harris got to the ball first and ran around the keeper now on the floor, but his effort on goal was superbly blocked by Bovey number five and captain James Baker. James was my man of the match in the first half, he kept his side very much still in the game with some wonderful defending.

Bovey did have one good chance in the first half to take the lead when a free kick was taken out on the right hand side by Matt Hawes. The ball was half cleared and then headed back into the box close into goal. Ashley White took a shot but was not able to find the back of the net.

Exwick’s number seven Callum Hoare made a great run into the Bovey box, but sadly for him his shot went just wide of the left hand post. It was very much one way traffic and one of the best moves of the match saw a shot taken in the box by Mathew Byrne. The shot had power and was low and forced the save of the match out of Dean Smith, who dived full length to his right to push the ball past the post.

Bovey were playing very much on the break and had a great chance to score when a long through ball played in Cliff Walters. He looked up as he got to the edge of the box and saw the keeper coming and decided to take his shot early. Fred Tonkin the Exwick keeper managed to get a hand to the ball that ended up going behind for a corner.

Up the other end and Callum Hoare hit a good shot just wide and then back the other end again Chris West headed over from a corner. On the 39th minute Exwick took what was a deserved lead. A long ball punted up field was not dealt with by the two Bovey defenders; I think they were more beaten by the bounce of the ball. Jordan Harris burst past them and shot low across the keeper from the right hand side of the box into the far left hand corner of the goal.

That was it for the first half and right from the off at the start of the second half, Exwick started that bit better than Bovey. Fred Kingdom broke into the Bovey box and hit a great shot and once again a wonderful save was made by Dean Smith.

As the half wore on some of the Exwick players seemed to be running out of steam, but there was plenty of running in the Bovey younger legs. Bovey slowly started to get on top and a great one two played by Cliff Walters saw him take a good low shot across the keeper that only just went wide of the post.

Jamie Orchard had come off the bench and added some much needed height in the Bovey attack, he got his side back onto level terms with a simple header close in, but he has to thank Dan Taylor for the part he played in the goal. Out on the right hand touch line with two players at his feet, he turned this way and then that way a number of times before getting the space he needed to cross the ball into the box.

Second later and Bovey’s Cliff Walters hits another fine shot just wide of the left hand post and you just knew another goal was coming from Bovey. Dan Taylor got hold of the ball and put his head down going past three players as if they were not there. Once in the box he looked up and fired the ball inside the right hand post. Goal three was not long coming; the ball was played up to Ashley White who made no mistake with his shot.

Exwick were pushing higher up the pitch leaving far too much room in behind them, one long through ball found Cliff Walters down the left hand side. As he got closer he looked up and thought about passing the ball to Jamie Orchard but instead hit the ball from the edge of the area into the back of the net.

So that was it final score four one to the Moorlanders who deserved their win for their fighting second half display.

I did hear someone moan about having to pay £4 to get in then 50p for a programme. I hope he was not one of the people who got a parking ticket for parking on yellow lines outside the gates to the ground. A nice man from the club walked around the whole ground telling people a warden was having a field day out side booking cars. Thankfully I had parked further down the road where there were no yellow lines.