Despite a lot of good attacking moves and probably more than half the possession, Okehampton once again failed to convert their chances and dropped another three points, writes Charlie Bond.

Both teams started well but Newton Abbot had the better of the early play.

The first real chance of the game came on 20 minutes when Okehampton defender Josh Robbins burst forward but his cross was played against the post by a Newton defender and Argyle were unable to scramble home the loose ball.

Only two minutes later, the visitors took the lead when Argyle’s defence failed to cut out a corner and it was firmly headed home by Sam Barnes.

Argyle fought back well and put a lot of pressure on the visitors’ defence but just could not break through before half-time.

Argyle brought on young Charlie Harrod for Brad Ausden early in the second half and this was to pay dividends on 69 minutes when he moved round a defender and unleashed a shot from the edge of the box which found the net with the help of a deflection from a visiting defender.

Okehampton now put tremendous pressure on the Newton defence and continually pushed forward looking for a winner.

Their best chance came in injury time when a ball played across the box from the right was blasted over the bar by Jake Rowe.

Then came the sucker punch as Argyle continued to push forward. Spurs won the ball in midfield and played a long ball forward down the right. Gavin Collins ran onto it and fired home a soft shot with Okey ‘keeper Jimmy Weeks out of position.

A minute later, a poor back pass by an Okey defender allowed James Moxon to run in and beat Weeks to complete the scoring.

However, Argyle will be pleased to come away with all three points from this game against a very good Bovey side, but Okehampton’s forwards were way off form and both sides failed to get their passes together in the final third of the pitch – a game where defences dominated.

Okehampton took the lead in the 12th minute when a good move through midfield saw Luke Reynolds brought down by a high tackle in the Bovey penalty area and the Okes were awarded the spot-kick. This was cooly blasted home by Luke Rowe.  

The game was very even but Bovey came close on 24 minutes when a first-time shot from Crocombe was brilliantly tipped over by Okey keeper Jimmy Weekes. 

The remainder of the first half saw Bovey have more of the ball but not able to create many clear-cut chances, whereas Argyle created a fair few but wasted them.

The second half carried on in the same vein with defences still in charge. Both sides got in some goal-bound shots but generally ‘keepers were not troubled.  

Argyle’s front-runners looked tired and lacked the pace to get round the home defence to create clear-cut chances despite some very good moves coming out of midfield.

Charlie Harrod came on as a substitute for the final 20 minutes and added a new dimension up front and was unlucky to see a good low shot from the left pushed round for a corner by Bovey ‘keeper Dom Aplin.

The final whistle blew with no further scoring and Argyle were pleased to have kept a clean sheet against the normally high-scoring Bovey side. Midfielder and captain Alex Gray was named man of the match for Okehampton.

Next Saturday, Okehampton are at home to Bude Town in the FA Vase with a 3pm kick-off and, the following Wednesday, they are home to Tiverton Town in the Devon St Lukes Bowl with a 7.30pm start.