GOALS from Liam Short, Tyler Evans-Loude and Rory Paine gave the Donnacroft-based outfit a deserved victory in the Torridge Cup final at Torrington on Thursday night.

The Torrington-based outfit finished a healthy ninth in SWPL Premier East and took a 34th minute lead through Short’s superb free-kick before second-half efforts from Evans-Loude and Paine got the job done.

Holsworthy went into the game having finished seventh in SWPL Premier West, and boss Ryan Hall gave the nod to teenage frontman Elis Aldrich alongside Gavin Carter in their now customary 3-5-2 formation.

Midfielder Craig Penberthy returned to the squad having missed the last few games.

In front of a healthy May Day crowd in North Devon, Holsworthy’s Gavin Carter put a searching ball across the six-yard box after just 23 seconds which nobody could get on the end of.

Torridgeside had a decent chance on three minutes when Rory Paine’s inswinging free-kick from the left was met at the back post by the outstanding Josh Phillips, but the centre-half could only nod over.

Short was the home side’s biggest threat and he cut in off the right before firing an effort narrowly wide.

Holsworthy duo Carter and Ollie Moores were booked for late tackles, the latter which led to a moment of magic for the opener.

He found the top left-hand corner from 30 yards although the usually-excellent Ryan Chadwick could perhaps of done better.

That sparked the Magpies into life and within 60 seconds Jay Thomas curled an effort just over the crossbar from the edge of the box.

Thomas then nearly turned provider five minutes before half-time when his deep free-kick from the right found skipper Peschke at the back post, but his swivelled shot went narrowly wide.

The second half started slowly with neither side doing much, and on 57 minutes Hall switched it up, introducing Max McDonald into the Magpies midfield.

Within 60 seconds he sent in a cross from the left that Carter could only help into Aiden Craver’s arms.

With 20 minutes to go the hosts got a second. Phillips’ diagonal was headed into the path of George Shapland, and as he burst into the box he was upended by Toby Martyn. Frontman Tyler Evans-Loude sent Chadwick the wrong way for 2-0.

Hall switched to a 4-3-3 with 15 minutes to go and emptied the bench, including introducing targetman Todd Peschke, and that seemed to make a difference as they got on the ball more.

With ten minutes to go McDonald appealed for a penalty for handball as he tried to knock the ball past Paine, but in the fifth minute of injury-time it was the midfielder that had the last laugh.

After winning the ball in the middle of the park, he sauntered through an unprotected rearguard before slotting home past the onrushing Chadwick.

For Holsworthy it was a disappointing night, but a highest-ever SWPL finish and yet another Torridge Cup final shows they are heading in the right direction.

HOLSWORTHY: Ryan Chadwick; Jedd Peschke (capt), Sam Hill (Ben Grech, 74), Ollie Moores; Callum Martyn, Aidan Slade (Max McDonald, 57), Toby Martyn (Craig Penberthy, 79), Jay Thomas, Kieran Jollow; Gavin Carter (Dean Hutchings, 86), Elis Aldrich (Todd Peschke, 79).

Magpies’ man-of-the-match: Jay Thomas.