Paignton Saints bag first trophy of SDFL season

At last, spring finally kicked off and allowed most South Devon League footballers to get back to some normal Saturday afternoon activity, even if the going was still good to soft on Grand National day.

The first cup final of the season went ahead courtesy of the hardworking ground staff at Buckfastleigh Rangers, where Watcombe Wanderers reserves took on Paignton Saints reserves in the Fred Hewings cup, the knockout competition restricted to all reserve teams in the league and this years competition was kindly sponsored by Combined Roofing Services.

The game could have gone either way, as both teams had chances that were not taken. It was end-to-end play and at times a bit frantic, the referee had a busy evening issuing six yellow cards for mis-timed challenges and the game had extra time written all over it.

That was until the 60th minute, when George Keates received the ball 25 yards from goal and saw the Watcombe ‘keeper off his line and took his chance with a fine strike. Watcombe continued to push and chance after chance went begging.

Just a reminder that last season Saints were in the Premier Division and Watcombe were in Division Four and that bit of extra experience held out for Paignton Saints to celebrate the first South Devon League cup final of the season with a fire work display.

Elsewhere in the catch-up cup games, Newton Abbot 66 and Waldon Athletic had a mammoth tussle in the semi-final of the Belli cup at Osbourne Park, 2-2 at the end of full time and extra time, where Waldon were reduced to 10 men and 66 just edged the penalty shootout to claim a cup final berth.

Newton Abbot Spurs, who themselves are enjoying their football again after a couple of seasons of struggle, possibly sent out a message to next season’s Premier Division teams by thrashing Elburton Villa 5-1 in the Herald Cup to progress to the quarter-finals.

Bovey Tracey also had a comfortable afternoon at home to Barton Athletic, a 7-1 demolition job secured their place in the Les Bishop final and a league and cup double is still on the cards for the Moorlanders.

Liverton United booked a place in the semi-final of the Ronald cup with a 6-2 victory at Totnes and Dartington and their reserve team came out on top with a 2-0 win against Drake FC and will play in the Les Bishop final against Chudleigh Athletic 2nds, who beat Barton Athletic 5-0 with goals from Ben Hill, Kai Stocker, Christian Williams, Daniel Martin and super sub Lloyd Hitchins.

In the Premier Division of the Torbay Clearance Services League, it looks like it is now Ilsington Villa’s title to lose, with a 2-0 home win against their nearest rivals Morley Rangers, thanks to goals from Jack Dixon and Matt Warman, which leaves them with seven games to play and they would have to lose three of them to be caught.

The other massive scoreline from this division was between the bottom two teams and it was Brixham AFC who have given themselves some hope with a fine 5-1 home win versus WBB. With five games left to play, the two teams just above them, East Allington and Chudleigh, need another two wins to be safe.

In Division One, Paignton Saints and Ivybridge Town continue to thunder on and are both now eight points clear of Newton Abbot Spurs, who have a lot of midweek games to fit in during the next six weeks.

Saints won 3-0 against Totnes and Dartington, who are now out of the promotion race, and Ivybridge Town had a close game at Watcombe but just got over the line thanks to goals from Joe Truelove and Kyne Sanie.

Brixham Town also dropped out of the promotion race, they lost 3-1 at Harbertonford, who are probably safe from relegation with this win, Sebastian Looker and Jason Wilkes were on target for the Fords.

Division Two has been a fascinating competition and, as it stands, only Barton Athletic in fifth cannot go up or down, every other team in the top four can get promotion and the bottom five could be relegated.

Bovey Tracey remain favourites with games in hand but pre-season favourites Paignton Saints 2nds with just four games to play need to win them all and hope that Newton Spurs 3rds slip up. East Allington Utd 2nds are in third place and face Bovey Tracey next in the league.

In Division Three, there were wins for Stoke Gabriel TP and South Brent, which keeps them in mid-table but both could squeeze into a promotion spot. Stoke beat Kingsbridge and Kellaton for the second time in seven days, a Daniel Trezeze hat-trick and singles from Adam Blackburn and Paul Christie completed the rout.

South Brent, who lost in midweek, just got the better of Newton Abbot 66 reserves with a 1-0 home victory. Brent are six points off the top two and have two games in hand.

Elsewhere in this division, Teign Village got a much-needed win in their trip to the seaside, 3-2 was the final score at Paignton Saints 3rds.

As the Division Four top three were on cup duty, Kingsteignton Athletic 2nds and Elburton Villa 3rds took full advantage and moved into a position ready to pounce. The Rams were comfortable 3-1 home victors versus Paignton Villa 3rds, Samuel Arthurs scored twice and an own goal helped them into fourth place with seven games to play.

Elburton Villa moved into fifth place, just three points off a promotion spot with two games in hand. It’s definitely hotting up with six weeks for teams to get their outstanding games played.

Games to catch this week include the second South Devon League Cup Final of the season, which is the Les Bishop Cup Final. This is the knockout competition for teams in Division Four. Liverton Utd 2nds will play Chudleigh Athletic 2nds at Buckfastleigh on Friday, April 19 with a 7.30pm KO.

On Saturday, my game of the day is at Broadpark, where Premier Division champions Kingstieignton Athletic take on Newton Abbot Spurs from Division One for a place in the Herald Cup semi-final, get there early!

Also playing in their League Cup, Watcombe Wanderers 2nds welcome Liverton Utd to Long Lane for a game that could go to the wire, but a cup final is the prize. Newton Abbot Spurs 3rds are also in cup action at their chosen home ground, Chuley Road Ashburton, where Paignton Saints 2nds will be looking to add to the silverware already collected.