SOUTH WEST PENINSULA LEAGUE PREMIER EAST

Okehampton Argyle: 1

Axminster Town: 0

This was a really good win for Argyle against fourth-placed Axminster and considering they had to rearrange as they were missing Tyler Dawe, Jake Rowe, Luke Reynolds and Jamal Bokhammas, they played really well, writes Charlie Bond.

To be fair, both teams played well and served up good football on a difficult surface and either side could have nicked the win with a draw looking the most likely outcome.

Okehampton welcomed back Luke Alden in midfield and he initiated several good moves.

Both sides strung some good passes together from the start and the game swung from end to end.

On 24 minutes, a lovely Okey move saw Dan Koitu put Josh Coles away down the left and his low cross across the area was played goalwards by Alden and well saved by the visiting ‘keeper.  

Five minutes late, Dan Koitu went close when he fastened on to a lovely through ball, but Axminster also pressurised the Okes’ defence and Mike Searle in goal and the back four had to be at their best to keep the visitors out.  

A minute before half-time, a period of Argyle pressure saw the visiting keeper do well to save shots from Luke Mortimore and Luke Alden to keep the game all square at the interval.

The second half saw the game continue in the same vein with both teams stringing good attacking moves together. 

Axminster came close to taking the lead when they broke through on the left, cut in towards the goal-line and fired a fierce low shot across the face of the goal beating Searle.

The ball ran to an Axminster player on the right of the goal and his first-time attempt hit the outside of the post and ran out of play.  

As the game moved into injury time, a draw was on the cards but on 93 minutes a good tackle and clever back-hill by Luke Mortimore set Coles bursting through on the right and his fierce shot beat the visiting ‘keeper to give Argyle all three points.

Luke Mortimore was awarded man of the match for Okehampton but there were several fine performances spread throughout the team.

Next Saturday, Okehampton are away to Honiton Town in the league, kick-off 2.15pm.