Okehampton Argyle 2-3 Budleigh Salterton

Okehampton gave top of the league Budleigh Salterton a run for their money, when after just twenty minutes of play it looked like this might have been an easy win for the visitors. Budleigh took the lead on fifteen minutes when a poor back pass was intercepted and the ball was comfortably placed in the Argyle net by Danny Williams. Budleigh took encouragement from this early gift and enjoyed a period of sustained pressure working Argyle hard all over the pitch and winning all the second phase play.
Argyle were a touch unlucky when the referee awarded Budleigh a penalty on twenty minutes for handball - a classic example of ball to hand rather than deliberate handball. Budleigh’s Danny Williams stepped up to calmly slot the ball wide of the keeper. With Argyle on the back foot it would have been so easy for them to have crumbled under the pressure that Budleigh were exerting on them, but Argyle have a real fighting spirit and this they showed in style.
Argyle won a corner on 25 minutes and Mathew Sanders sent in a superb delivery that the keeper struggled with and fumbled into his own net. Within five minutes Argyle were level when Mark Burdus floated in a free kick that found Adam Mortimer. Adam made no mistake; with a good first touch he controlled the ball and fired in a superb shot beating the Budleigh keeper.
At this stage Budleigh were shell shocked and hanging on and very lucky not to have gone behind when Robbie Miller sent in a great cross finding Phillip Evans on the back post with a good clean header back across the goal, the ball glancing off the crossbar.
The second half continued to be very open and entertaining with both sides missing several chances to take the lead. Argyle for long periods of the second half looked the better team but sometimes football is a cruel game and the best team doesn’t always win. On 85 minutes Budleigh’s Danny Minto secured the points with a speculative shot from 30 yards that took an early deflection keeping the ball low enough to sneak under the crossbar.