A LATE resurgence saw Newton Abbot Spurs grind out a 2-2 draw with Bovey Tracey in the Teignbridge Derby on Monday, writes Josh Goodman.

Bovey Tracey led by two at the halfway stage thanks to goals from the ever-reliable strike partnership of Josh Haynes and Ollie Aplin. The goals came on two minutes and 22 minutes respectively.

But the second half belonged to the travelling Spurs, who galvanised after the restart. James Moxon gave his side a glimmer of hope with a classy finish across goal 10 minutes from time and Callum Noyce restored parity from the penalty spot with only three minutes still to play, the spot-kick awarded for a handball among a goal-mouth scramble.

This was a game with all the hallmarks of a derby, and its spirit was typified in injury-time when Callum Leech was sent off for jumping into a full-blooded challenge on halfway; Bovey Tracey’s third red card in two matches.

‘I’m annoyed to have drawn it, to be honest,’ admitted Spurs boss Marc Revell. ‘I think we were the better side throughout. We made a couple naive mistakes for the goals but we were the better team – Bovey didn’t do a lot in the second half. 

‘I see it as a point gained based on the circumstances of going 2-0 down but two points dropped going off of performance.

‘We’ve got players on the pitch and players on the bench – Stu Morgan, Owen [Green], Toby [Pullman], Noycey [Callum Noyce] and Theo [Ramsey] – that score goals week in, week out, and I think we score enough goals to not be mad at them for not scoring at all in the first half off any chances. It’s the fact we’re creating them that impresses me and keeps me happy. But it is frustrating. 

‘We were naive with the chances as well, and if we’d kept it to 0-0 and been a bit more clinical, that game should have been easier than it seemed. Bovey were hanging on at the end.’