Saturday, August 10

Kit Kitchen South West Peninsula League Premier East

HOLSWORTHY’S debut SWPL Premier East campaign got off to a poor start as they lost 5-2 to Newton Abbot Spurs at a windy Upcott Field.

Spurs arrived in Torridge as one of the pre-season favourites for the title and showed why in an excellent second-half performance.

The opening 45 minutes were ruined by the weather although the visitors dominated possession in the early exchanges and took the lead after seven minutes when Joey Andrews fired in from 16 yards following a poor clearance from Jay Thomas.

Holsworthy kept plugging away and were rewarded just after the half hour when Romanian striker Tudor Placinta won the ball back, and played in Joe Barker whose shot was saved by Neal Osborn, only for Placinta to tap in the rebound from six yards.

In the second-half, Newton Abbot came out of the blocks and took the lead when poor defending saw Adam Dyson head home from a cross from close range. It was 3-1 shortly after as Ollie Kenneally was adjudged to have caught the onrushing forward’s foot in the penalty area and Dyson did the business from the penalty spot.

The xMagpies conceded a fourth on the hour as poor defending down Holsworthy’s left saw the ball neatly finished by Gavin Collins.

Joe Barker pulled it back to 4-2 from the penalty spot with 20 minutes to go following Harry Barrett’s driving run.

Spurs scored their fifth close to the end as Kieran Langman didn’t deal with a long ball which allowed Collins to ghost past and score from the edge of the box.

The Magpies will hope to bounce back on Saturday when they welcome Ivybridge Town (3pm).

See next week’s Post to see how they got on, as well as Tuesday night’s trip to Torridgeside.

Elsewhere, it was a week to forget for Callington Town in SWPL Premier West.

They were thrashed 8-0 by title favourites Saltash United on Wednesday night at Ginsters Marsh.

Sam Hughes scored twice in the opening half hour, the fiest after just Callum Martindale added a third from the penalty spot in the 62nd minute before Ryan Richards added a fourth with 20 minutes to go.

With the Town defence stretched beyond breaking point in the final stages, United exploited the gaps to add four further goals, with Hughes who completed his hat-trick, Danny Lewis and Richards all on target.

Then on Saturday they lost 3-1 at St Blazey.

Andre Rodukov pulled one back for ‘Cally’ on the hour to make it 2-1, but the hosts scored again late on to seal all three points.