THE evening of Friday, April 11 saw the opening cup final of the South Devon Football League calendar, complimented nicely by the usual league billings, reports Alistair Muirden.

PREMIER DIVISION

Starting with the league action and Chudleigh Athletic continued with their upturn in form as they beat Totnes & Dartington 3-1 on home soil, thanks to strikes from Mathew Cobbold and Jack Salmons (2). This moves the Clarets out of the bottom two with five games to play and they still have a relegation six-pointer against Elburton Villa to come as well.

Talking of Villa and they were edged out 2-1 at Waldon Athletic whilst Newton Abbot 66 stay in second spot, courtesy of an Ashley Dove brace and Jake Cockram single in their 3-0 win over Paignton Saints at Coach Road.

The current challengers, Newton Abbot Spurs, continue to win games, a 3–1 victory over relegation-threatened Beesands Rovers the latest. Callum Noyce and Louis Green were on target for Spurs and they remain in third place, 11 points behind current leaders Ilsington Villa, with four games in hand.

Villa have just two games to play but a 4–1 win at Kingsteignton Athletic is a good result in any book, Jamie Beer, Jack Dixon, Mathew Pilkington and Darren Rowe were the target men for Villa who must remain favourites to retain the title.

DIVISION ONE

Division One continues to contribute to a great season and Buckland Athletic have stirred the pot with a 2-nil home win against promotion candidates Windmill, the result does not really affect the home team but could prove costly for the visitors once the points are tallied up.

True Blues continue to lead the pack and a 3-nil win versus Bovey Tracey keeps the Rangers boys on target for Premier League football next season, Ben Woodman and Chris Harvey scored the goals that keeps them 3 points ahead of Phoenix who have 3 games in hand and they still have to play each other twice!

Phoenix had a comfortable afternoon as they put 11 past WBB, David Moore scoring seven of these.

At the bottom, every team picked up points except Paignton Villa. Newton Abbot Spurs 3rds and Brixham Town were probably happy to share the points in a 2–2 draw, the result leaves them needing one more win from four games to be safe from the drop in what has been a challenging season for them.

DIVISION TWO

The race for promotion from Division Two continues to reduce in numbers, Watcombe Wanderers 2nds and Liverton Utd both cancelled each other out in a 1–1 draw at Long Lane. The result means that Livvy can only catch Barton Athletic if they fail to win their final game.

At the other end of the division, Ipplepen Athletic lost 4-nil to an Upton Athletic side enjoying an end-of-season boost in form and Buckfastleigh Rangers 2nds, who could not raise a team, are a bit off the pace to stay in this division.

DIVISION THREE

At the top of Division Three the number of challengers to Ashburton’s possible title has lost another team. Stoke Gabriel TPs loss at home to South Brent effectively ends their control of what happens as they now need other teams to slip up for them to have a top-two placing.

Ashburton meanwhile continue to impress, a 6-nil victory at Waldon Athletic 2nds with goals from Sam Whiffin, Sean Richards, Jack Clarkson, Brandon Hext and Alex Hambly keep the Ashes in second place, two points behind Drake with three games in hand.

Elburton Villa 3rds had to come from behind to win at Totnes and Dartington 2nds, the 3–2 victory keeps the young side in third place needing to win three of their final four games to overtake Drake.

DIVISION FOUR

The final placings were decided in Division Four on the last day of their fixtures and in the game of the day, Templar Way rose to the occasion by winning 6-nil at Chudleigh Athletic 2nds with Chris Bennett scoring five of the goals.

It turned out that they did not need the win as rivals Teign Village were involved in a rare goalless draw against Newton Rovers.

FRED HEWINGS CUP FINAL

The favourites from Division Two, East Allington Utd 2nds, brought a large support from the South Hams to Newton Abbot but it was the underdogs from Division Three, Liverton Utd 2nds, who were making all the noise on and off the pitch.

A couple of Livvy players rolled back the years to produce the opening goal on 38 minutes, Stephen Rohan was on yet another surging run down the right-hand side and he assisted Arron Underhill.

Sam Bruckner struck an equaliser on the brink of half-time but Livvy were not to be deterred, George Stahlmann deciding the tie from 30 yards out.

As is the case for a number of clubs in the South Devon League, these two would not exist without the support of a small number of people so a massive thank you to their respective teams of volunteers.

PREVIEWS

On the evening of Thursday, April 17, Kingskerswell and Templar Way will battle it out for the Les Bishop Cup- this final kicking off at 6:15 at the home of Kingsteignton Athletic.

It’s not often that two new teams reach the league cup final in their first season but both of these teams have excelled in the competition and will go head-to-head to pick up the silverware, Kerswell of course have wrapped up the title with a 100% playing record and Templar Way finished as runners up. in the two league games between them, 19 goals were scored so we can expect plenty of goalmouth action.

As most clubs are ahead with their fixtures, some have chosen other activities for Easter Saturday and a reduced fixture program is the outcome.

However, there are some vital games at both ends of the divisions. My game of the day is in Division Three at the Manadon Sports Hub where the top two meet on the 3g. Drake FC versus Ashburton is surely going to entertain the crowd and give a pointer as to where the trophy is heading.

In the Premier Division, Chudleigh Ath lock horns with Newton Abbot Spurs in a game where the points are gold dust for both teams. East Allington Utd, who are not yet safe from relegation, meet a Paignton Saints team that are in and out of form and this could go either way.