IPPLEPEN Athletic had a break from Devon Football League action on Saturday, March 8, participating in the League Cup instead.

Unfortunately for the ‘Pens they were narrowly beaten, exiting the tournament after a 1-0 loss at home to the league leaders Alphington FC. Charlie Dack scored the only goal of the game.

Dartmouth AFC’s cup defeat was by an even narrower margin as their clash with Ottery St Mary went to a penalty shootout.

The pair were locked at 0-0 at the break and then late on, Charlie Stevens gave Darts the lead at Longcross, only for Cholwe Hachipuka to respond with an added time equaliser. It then went straight to penalties and Ottery prevailed 6-5 on their travels.

It wasn’t quite as close between Appledore and Plymouth Marjon with the former booking their spot in the next round with an emphatic 6-1 win.

This weekend brought a mixture of league and cup action with struggling pair Bere Alston United and North Molton Sports Club both involved in the former.

Luckily for Ipplepen, who are also scrapping at the wrong end of the DFL table, both teams were beaten. Bere Alston lost 1-0 at Beer Albion, the goal coming courtesy of Jayden Rooke, whilst Bere Alston were involved in a 10-goal thriller against Plymstock United.

The pair were previously separated by just one point but Plymstock moved away from the bottom three with a 6-4 win on their travels, Jayden Preece scoring a brace for the winners who also had Kriss Young sent off.

Moving forward now and league action returns but not for Ipplepen. Robbie Bowker’s Dartmouth do have a fixture and it is a big one as they visit the aforementioned Alphington with hopes of inflicting just a third defeat of the campaign on the high-flyers.