BERE Alston edged this semi-final but their slick play deserved a more emphatic scoreline, with Bude only coming to life in the second half, writes Kevin Hoare.

Bere Alston were quickly out of the blocks and the Bude 'keeper Rob Freestone had to make two very sharp saves early on to prevent Bere taking the lead. Bere Alston's build up play was giving the Bude defence problems and from one slick move Jake McGowan was put through to finish with a crisp shot after 20 minutes.

Ten minutes later the Bere attack carved out an opportunity for Ryan Richards and he slipped a left footed shot just beyond Freestone and into the corner of the net, to establish a 2-0 half time lead.

The first half may have been predominantly Bere but Bude came out with more purpose in the second period and with manager   Ian Marks pulling the strings in midfield they started to threaten the Bere defence and he scored with beautiful curling shot to give Bude the impetus to surge forward.

Bude had a golden opportunity to equalise when awarded two indirect free kicks inside the Bere Alston penalty area but determined defending saw the danger cleared.

Bere did have another opportunity to score but the Bude 'keeper pulled off a fantastic stop from McGowan to deny them the third goal which they richly deserved.