A back to strength Okehampton Argyle, nestling at the bottom of Division 1 East, shocked unbeaten league leaders Stoke Gabriel by coming away with a 1 – 0 victory, the Okes’ first win of the season. Argyle welcomed back defenders James Williams and Matthew Mortimer after injury and forward Steve Williams from his honeymoon, but were still without leading scorer Adam Mortimer and influential mid-fielder George Pitts.
The Okes battled hard throughout this match and showed a tremendous work rate across the whole team. During the first half, play flowed from end to end and Okehampton created some dangerous opportunities down the left flank as Matt Mortimer surged forward and fed some penetrating through balls to Steve Kinsey, Robbie Clarke and Steve Williams. Steve Williams always threatened with his speed and Steve Kinsey with his tremendous ball control, but Matt Mortimer himself came closest early on as a 35 yard shot fizzed just outside the Stoke Gabriel goal. Stoke showed their class by continually putting pressure on the Okehampton defence, but the back four looked secure and James and Tim Williams dealt well with any balls through the middle. After 30 minutes, Argyle again built a promising attack down the left and Robbie Clarke unleashed a fierce 30 yard shot which took a deflection off a defender before flying past the Stoke keeper to give Okes the lead. This goal was well deserved and although the game was
very much on a knife edge, the Okes worked hard to ensure they took their lead into the half-time break.
The second half continued in a similar vein, but as the game progressed, Stoke put Okehampton under more and more pressure. Argyle were grateful for the continual hard work and skill of their midfield players, with Robbie Miller and Chris Wills outstanding in this role. Mike Vernon at right back also had an outstanding game and continually won the ball in the tackle and cleared his lines under pressure. All the time Argyle threatened to score again on the break and some good chances fell to substitute Robbie Sandercock and skilful forward Steve Kinsey. Meanwhile the midfield never stopped battling and Phil Evans never stopped running all afternoon.
In the last 10 minutes, Okehampton were put under continuous pressure and only the brilliance of goalkeeper Dan Malcolm kept their lead intact as he stopped shot after shot. He had been in tremendous form all afternoon and was almost certainly the man of the match for the Okes. However, it is only fair to say that this was a tremendous team performance and every player deserves credit for producing the shock result of the day, which moves Argyle 3 places up the League.