Exmouth Town 3-3 Okehampton Argyle

This was a real six pointer for both teams with Okehampton hoping to close the gap on Exmouth who are just above them in the table and with both teams chasing places in the South West Peninsula League next season. The game began with a hard midfield battle and there was little to choose between the teams. James Williams broke the deadlock and gave Argyle the lead with a tremendous 30 yard shot after about 20 minutes.
The game still switched from end to end and Exmouth pushed hard for an equaliser, but it was Okehampton who went further ahead when James Williams unleashed another unstoppable shot from the edge of the box. Shortly after this, the Okes were unlucky not to go three up when a lob from Robbie Miller landed on top of the bar.
As the first half drew to a close, it looked as if Okehampton were set for all three points, but in the last five minutes before half-time the defence completely went to sleep and allowed Exmouth to draw level. Very poor marking allowed Exmouth to burst through the middle for their first goal. Sean Sandercock made an excellent save at the feet of the Exmouth centre forward, but unfortunately the ball broke loose and rebounded into the net off an Okehampton defender. Within seconds, Exmouth had equalised when the Argyle defence were again guilty of slack marking and a scrambled clearance was volleyed home by an Exmouth forward.
The second half was only minutes old when Adam Mortimer brilliantly lost his defender, turned and crashed a tremendous shot in off the post to restore the Okes lead. However, it always looked unlikely that Argyle would hold on to this lead as every time Exmouth attacked, they looked dangerous and continually pulled the Okehampton defence out of position. They also played a very physical and aggressive style of football, which took its toll on the lighter Okehampton players, and stopped them exploiting their speed up front. Both James and Steve Williams came in for some rough treatment and James Williams ended the match hobbling.
Exmouth finally equalised halfway through the second half, when they were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box. While the Okehampton defence argued about the decision, the kick was quickly taken and laid short for a forward to drive home. From then until the final whistle, the game swung from end to end but neither side were able to find the winner.
All in all, a draw was probably a fair result with both sides so evenly matched, but had the Okehampton defence played up to its usual standard, the three points were there for the taking. Special mention is due to goalkeeper Sean Sandercock playing his first match in the first team this season. He had an excellent game, having no chance with any of the goals and not putting a foot wrong all afternoon.