History made in the South Devon Football League

For the first time in the long history of the Torbay Clearance Services South Devon Football League, two Plymouth-based teams reached the final of the Division One Dartmouth Cup.

Plymouth Phoenix versus The Windmill, two teams who have enjoyed an extraordinary season in the league and county cup competitions met at Buckfastleigh Rangers FC on Friday, May 9 in what promised to be a treat for South Devon League followers.

But, I have to say, they made the crowd wait for their treats.

The game started brightly enough with both teams having early moments in front of goal. Just four minutes in, David Moore had a header cleared off the line for Phoenix and at the other end Jack Briscoe was causing all sorts of problems for the Phoenix defence.

But, having two teams that are not used to losing had an impact on the game, as they both cancelled each other out for a long period of time. Sam Doyle picked up an early yellow card for a poor challenge and in the 42nd minute the Windmill supporters felt that Carton Allen was fortunate to stay on the pitch following a challenge on Sam Wells in the Windmill goal but the referee spoke to his assistant and they both agreed that it was worthy of a yellow card.

The second half was more competitive with both teams opening up for a win and a few substitutions were made and a few more yellow cards were issued for poor challenges but what was more noticeable was that Windmill were having the better chances and Phoenix could not deal with Jack Briscoe.

At the back, Chey Hammond seemed to be covering a lot of ground to keep any Phoenix attacks under control. In the 67th minute, Briscoe had a header hit the underside of the bar and bounce on the line and just two minutes later he had a blistering shot that went just over the bar. Windmill were definitely knocking at the door.

On 71 minutes, another Windmill attack came to nothing but as the Phoenix skipper tried to control the ball it bounced up and hit his arm that was outstretched and the referee pointed to the spot.

Up stepped Lous Godwin, who put the ball straight down the middle and the Phoenix ‘keeper could do nothing to stop it. At this point, Phoenix threw everything at the game, Ashley White hit the bar from a free-kick before Jamie Grindrod got himself sent off for throwing the ball at somebody in the dug-out.

At the other end, with time running out, Biscoe got his reward when he chipped the ‘keeper from close-range to make it 2-0 to Windmill and ensure that it would be Glynn, Kevin and Cora that were taking the Dartmouth Cup back down the A38.

The sponsors for the Dartmouth Cup are Francis Clarke Accountants and they judged that the Windmill skipper Chey Hammond was the man of the match and presented him with a commemorative glass.

In the Premier Division midweek games, Newton Abbot Spurs once again called on their resources, as did their opponents Waldon Athletic, but the Torquay side were off the pace and still suffering a Herald Cup hangover, as Spurs took another step towards being crowned champions. Toby Pullman scored four of the nine goals that puts Spurs five points behind Ilsington Villa with two games in hand.

Move forward to Friday, May 9 and Newton Abbot Spurs were back in action again, this time against relegation threatened Chudleigh Athletic, who were no match for the now favourites to become the SDFL champions for the first time in the history of the club’s 2nd team.

A 5-1 victory thanks to goals from Toby Pullman, Callum Noyce and Jack Upshire leaves them with two games to win against Waldon Athletic and Totnes and Dartington. Meanwhile, Chudleigh only have one game to play, also against Waldon, where they need a win to give themselves a chance of retaining Premier Division status.

Ilsington Villa remain in pole position after their final game of the season but Beesands Rovers will be mightily proud of holding the Moorlanders to a 2-2 draw at Loddiswell in the sunshine.

Ilsington led twice but could not hold on to either lead, Jack Eades equalized from the spot in the first half and Adam Winkworth scored in the dying seconds to earn a point for the Bees. It looks like Beesands are still going to need a win from playing East Allington or Kingsteignton, that is depending on the outcome of the Waldon v Chudleigh game.

East Allington must be wishing they could go back to the future with their end-of-season form, having only lost one of their last eight games. This week’s 4-1 victory over Totnes and Dartington sees the Pirates up to fifth place and a top four place is a possibility for this team, who at Easter were two points off a relegation spot, there must be something in the water or its Geraldine’s after-game biscuits that has helped the team.

In Division One, the games are coming thick and fast for Phoenix, who made the long trek to Brixham Town on Tuesday and came away with a 7-1 win, thanks to four more goals for David Moore’s season tally of 36 so far.

Phoenix are six points behind True Blues with three games in hand. In fact, Phoenix still have five games to play in the last two weeks of the season and two of them are against True Blues.

Brixham Town closed out their season with a trip to face Bovey Tracey and it ended with a disappointing 4-1 defeat for the Fishermen. On the flip side, Bovey are cemented in fourth place and could nick third if The Windmill slip up and they both meet on the last day of the season. On target for Bovey were Ben Moyle, Ryan Stanbridge and a worldy from Christian Fleet was the highlight of the afternoon.

The gap at the top of Division Two that Mount Gould have been working away at over the past few weeks is now down to three points, their midweek outing at Buckfastleigh Rangers 2nds resulted in a 7-0 win helped by a Joshua Bance hat-trick and they are looking to go joint top with a win at Watcombe Wanderers 2nds at the weekend, which is exactly what happened, another 7-0 scoreline with four goals from Nathen Lang a couple from Jack Trigger were enough to put the Mounties top on goal difference, a point away from the formality of being crowned Division Two champions on their journey back to the football pyramid.

The only other game in this division was at Halford where Liverton Utd had another good win, a 5-3 scoreline leaves them needing just two points to guarantee that spot, only East Allington 2nds, Paignton Saints 2nds and Watcombe 2nds can also finish third in what has been a great competition but congratulations are due to Mount Gould and Barton Athletic, who will be playing in Division One next term.

The top of the table game in Division Three was at Ashburton where they welcomed the only team that can beat them to the title in Elburton Villa 3rds. In a game that was a credit to this division, the visitors ran out 4-2 winners and the Ashes will have to wait another week until they visit Newton Abbot 66 2nds to get the win needed to clinch the division title.

Elburton return to Plymouth with the points that takes them within one point of the runners-up spot if Ashes win at 66. Should that not happen, Villa can take the title with a win at South Brent and Paignton Saints 3rds. Now is probably not a good moment to mention that a league officer was at the Ashburton game with the Division Three trophy for presentation, perhaps he will stay away from the 66 game!

Three other games were played in this division and Liverton United 2nds made the trip to Brixham Town 2nds and came away with a 3-1 victory. South Brent, who still have five games to play in the next 14 days, will have been disappointed to lose 1-0 at home to Stoke Gabriel TP and Newton Abbot 66 2nds, who have had a really good season, beat Paignton Saints 3rds by 4 goals to 1, Macualey Kerr, Alfie Luscombe and Russell Ellis were on target for Sixes.

With just two weeks of the grassroots season left, it should be noted that only one of the South Devon Football League’s five divisions has a confirmed champion and runner up. That is, of course, Division Four where Kingskerswell won the title with an unbeaten season and Templar Way finished second in their first season in Saturday football.

The Premier Division will be won by Newton Abbot Spurs 2nds or Ilsington Villa, the relegation spots will be Elburton Villa, plus Beesands Rovers or Chudleigh Athletic.

Division One will be won by Phoenix or True Blues, runners-up will be either of them, plus Windmill. The relegation spots will be Ivybridge Town, plus Watcombe Wanderers, Paignton Villa or Newton Abbot Spurs 3rds.

Division Two will be won by Mount Gould unless they concede 27 goals in their last three games and runners-up will be Barton Athletic. The relegation spots will be Buckfastleigh Rangers 2nds and Ipplepen Athletic 2nds.

Division Three will be won by Ashburton or Elburton Villa 3rds. Drake FC could get runners-up if Elburton lose their last two games. The relegation spots will be Brixham Town 2nds and Paignton Saints 3rds.

I can tell you that the league management committee are delighted with how good the competition has been this season and to have only one confirmed champion with 14 days of the season left would have been on all of their wish lists.

Games to catch this week

The Premier Division George Belli Cup Final between Totnes and Dartington and Newton Abbot Spurs 2nds will be played on Thursday, May 15 at Liverton Utd with a 7pm KO.

Spurs are still in the hunt for a league and cup double and start the game as favourites as they won their only league encounter 5-0. They still have to play again in the league at the Rec, but Tots have had some good scorelines in their promotion season and having knocked out Waldon and Paignton Saints en-route to the final, plus knowing that Spurs cannot use squad players, will boost their confidence of crowning off a good season.

There is plenty of parking at Dartington and a full bar and food service will be available, alongside Pauline’s famous pasties.

Enjoy your final two weeks of grassroots football.