Ilsington Villa open gap at top of South Devon football

The omens for a full weekend of football were clear to see after the first midweek fixture at South Brent was postponed on Thursday at 4pm.

The groundstaff had spent all day preparing the pitch for play, only for the 3pm downpour to replace the day’s work. A total of 11 of the 24 fixtures were lost to the weather and, adding to the number of midweek games that teams will have to play before the end of May, teams are being proactive in arranging their outstanding games but there are some that will be playing on Saturdays, Tuesdays and Thursdays to complete their fixtures and avoid a league penalty.

Ilsington Villa moved five points clear of second-placed Morley Rangers and seven points clear of third-placed Kingsteignton Athletic at the top of the Premier Division.

Daniel Langford scored four times and Jamie Beer added a single to brush aside an Elburton Villa side who probably need one more win to secure their place in this division. For Ilsington Villa to be caught, they need to lose three of their remaining eight fixtures and next up for them is the return trip to Elburton.

The only other game between two Premier teams was in the quarter-final of the Herald Cup at Osborne Park, where Newton Abbot 66 secured their place in the semi-finals with a 3-1 win against Buckfastleigh Rangers, thanks to strikes from Sam Cockram, Jake Cockram and Matt Groves.

Division One is so tight it changes every time a ball is kicked, Ivybridge Town returned to the top following a 2-0 home win versus Buckland Athletic and Brixham Town are not giving up the chase just yet. They moved into third place with a 5-0 home win against Upton Athletic, Mark ‘Chico’ Griffiths rolled back the years with a hat-trick and Rhys Dallow completed the job for the fishermen.

The result leaves Upton with four games to play and probably needing to win at least one of them to be safe, but I should add that also applies to Babbacombe Corries and Harbertonford.

The only other game in Division One was the Dartmouth Cup semi-final, where Paignton Villa cruised into their first final for a few years with a 7-1 home win against Harbertonford ,thanks to doubles from Ashley Beecham and Charlie Thomas, and singles from Billy Williams, Jack Thomas and Cody White to give the club a reward for the hard work it takes to run three teams.

Paignton Saints, Babbacombe Corries or Buckland Athletic will join them in the final, which is scheduled for May 24.

It’s as you were in Division Two, as no games beat the weather but this division won’t have to play many, if any, midweek games to complete the season.

Newton Abbot Spurs 3rds have only two games to play and if they win one of them, pre-season favourites Paignton Saints reserves would need to win all of their remaining four games to catch them at the top. Bovey Tracey still have enough games to win the league and must now be considered favourites for a second straight promotion.

In Division Three, Ashburton slipped up at South Brent for the second week in a row. A single strike from Jono Ellis was enough to keep Brent on course for a promotion berth, they still have 12 games to play, so availability and injuries could play a role, they may even need to call on Vince Reeves to don a shirt, now that would be a sight!

This result allowed Watcombe Wanderers 2nds to move six points clear at the top after a 2-1 home win versus Newton Abbot 66 reserves and it looks like the title is theirs to throw away, although with eight games to play, they may have to use all of their resources to get over the line.

One other game was played in the Ronald Cup for Division Three teams at Stoke Gabriel TP, who dispatched Kingsbridge and Kellaton in the quarter-final 3-0, a hat-trick by Daniel Trezise kept the Railwaymen on track for a semi-final clash with South Brent.

There was a shock result at the top of Division Four. Chudleigh Athletic reserves could have gone top with a win over South Brent reserves but it was the visitors who came away with the points in front of an attendance of 80 spectators.

William Burns, Stuart Hanney and Rory Porter scored the goals for the visitors after Ben Hill and George Nicholls had scored for Chudleigh, who only have two games to play. This result leaves the door open for Drake, Liverton 2nds, Kingsteignton 2nds and Elburton Villa 3rds to battle for the top spot.

Kingsteignton Athletic reserves moved into fourth place with a 2-0 home win versus Newton Rovers reserves, goals from Sam Arthurs and Ashley Heyworth was enough to keep the Rams five points off the top but with two games in hand, they are confident enough to go all the way. The same can be said for a young Elburton Villa 3rd team, playing their first season in adult football and in some cases running rings around some more mature players. A 5-0 win at Paignton Villa 3rds keeps them in fifth place, seven points off the top but with four games in hand, so they must be considered the favourites for the title.

Elsewhere in Division Four, Barton Athletic reserves secured a semi-final berth in the divisional Les Bishop Cup with a 5-2 win over Babbacombe Corries reserves, a hat-trick from Spencer Artz and singles from Jack Cumston and Chris Lewis keeping the Barton cup run going.

Games to catch this weekend. On Friday evening, the first South Devon League cup final gets underway at Buckfastleigh at 7pm, when Paignton Saints reserves take on Watcombe Wanderers reserves in the Fred Hewings final.

This is the knockout competition for reserve teams in the league and is sponsored by Combined Roofing Contractors. Both teams have had a really good season so far, Saints were relegated from the Premier Division into Division Two to make way for their first team rejoining the Torbay Clearance Services League and they are currently fourth in their division and are in the mix for promotion.

Watcombe have been top of Division Three all season and have only lost once, so it should be a cracking cup final to witness.

The top games to catch on Saturday include other cup games at the semi-final stage, Drake FC take on Liverton Utd 2nds at Millbay Park and Barton Athletic 2nds welcome Chudleigh Athletic 2nds to Barton Downs.

Totnes and Dartington 2nds clash with Liverton United at Dartington Hall’s Foxhole ground and in the Division Two League Cup, Bovey Tracey host Barton Athletic 1sts at Western Counties ground.

There are two stand-out games in the Premier Division, a relegation six-pointer at Wall Park, where Brixham AFC clash with bottom club Watts Blake Bearne and the losers could well be playing Division One football next season but my game of the day is between the top two in the Torbay Clearance Services League.

A little trip up on to the Moor for a must-see game, where Ilsington Villa meet Morley Rangers and anything less than a win for the Plymouth-based team could well see that Premier Division trophy turning left at Drumbridges roundabout.

A reminder that the cup games start at 2pm and the league games at 2.30pm.