OKEHAMPTON Argyle returned to the top of the South West Peninsular League Premier Division East with a decisive win again Dartmouth at the weekend.

With leading scorer Luke Mortimore serving a one game suspension for five yellow cards, Okehampton reshuffled their line-up and played in a 4-4-2 formation. This worked well against a competitive Dartmouth side who were in 5th place in the table.

The four-man midfield of Jake Rowe, Mitch Cisneros, Alex Gray and Luke Reynolds played well throughout shutting down the visitors’ midfield and creating chances for the home forwards.

Argyle also reshuffled their back four to deal with the fast-paced Dartmouth attack and brought Tyler Dawe into the centre of defence and new signing Ollie Snow from Crediton into the left back position. Snow had an outstanding game and was justly awarded the man of the match award.

The game began very evenly and Dartmouth showed how dangerous they were early on when Okehampton keeper Aaron Dearing had to make a brilliant point blank save to keep Argyle level. However, on 21 minutes, there was nothing Dearing could do when a Dartmouth player broke down the left and ran through the defence before firing home. Within a minute, the Okes were level when Dom Harnell’s perfect cross was headed home by Brad Ausden although many though it had taken a deflection from a Dartmouth defender.

Four minutes later, Okehampton took the lead when Ausden moved onto a through ball and unleashed a great shot from 25 yards to find the corner of the net low down. Argyle were well on top now and on 38 minutes put together a superb move with Jake Rowe feeding Ausden whose lovely square ball set Luke Alden free to run on and slot home Okey’s third.

To Dartmouth’s credit, they came out with determination after the break and Argyle still had to keep things tight at the back. Gradually however, the Okes began to run the midfield again and created several chances but found it difficult to add to their lead against some good Dartmouth defending. An injury saw forward Luke Alden have to leave the field and Okey went to a 4-5-1 formation as he was replaced by midfielder Denham Guild. Later influential midfielder Luke Reynolds also had to go off with an injury and Jamal Bokhammas came on as a replacement. Both substitutes performed well. Five minutes from time, Argyle at last extended their lead when a lovely move saw Brad Ausden’s shot parried by the visiting keeper and Denham Guild picked up the loose ball and took it round a defender and the keeper before tapping it into an empty net.

This sees Okehampton return to the top of the league but they have Crediton United, Brixham and Ivybridge Town all snapping at their heels and all with games in hand.

Next Saturday, Okehampton are at away to Axminster Town with a 2.15pm kick-off.