EWAN Reeves’ late header sent Bude through to the last 16 with a narrow 2-1 success over Okehampton Argyle at a sunny Broadclose Park.

Both sides are still rebuilding with lots of talented, young local players, and for large parts of the contest, chances were at a premium.

The first half – which was full of endeavour but lacking quality – saw a breakthrough when Jake Gilbert slotted home from close-range following a corner.

After the break was more of the same, but Oke equalised when Brad Ausden tapped in.

But just as it looked like spot-kicks would decide the contest, Reeves powered home Finn Reeve’s superb corner.

Bude – beaten 3-0 at Callington Town in midweek despite enjoying plenty of possession – made one change as Gilbert came in for Dylan Morgan.

From the first whistle the game was a tight and tense affair with play often in and around the midfield.

The Seasiders did strike first on 34 minutes as after Harrison Swatton’s inswinging corner from the left wasn’t dealt with, Gilbert made no mistake from eight yards.

Okehampton found Bude’s defence tough to crack, but did equalise when Nathan Colley set a player away down the left and he advanced into the box before crossing for Ausden who applied a simple finish.

Both teams had corners throughout the game, but Bude grabbed their second set-piece goal in the 90th minute when Reeve’s corner from the right was allowed to bounce on the six-yard line, allowing Reeves to power a header into the far corner.

Boss Steve Hackett was far from pleased, but admitted getting through is all that counts.

He said: “It was great to win but I can’t help but be disappointed by the performance.

“It felt like we never really got going and we didn’t play any of the quick, passing football we like to play.

“We always like to get the ball down and play when we can, and we played much better on Wednesday night at Callington and lost.

“But that said, after Okehampton equalised it would have been easy for our heads to drop, but we fought back valiantly and grabbed the winner at the death.”

Hackett did however praise several individuals.

He continued: “Harrison (Swatton) was excellent. You could tell he was in the mood as he had a brief spell there where it didn’t quite work out for him, and you could tell he really wanted to prove a point.

“We had to bring Dylan (Morgan) on in the first half as Archie Perrott wasn’t feeling well and he did well when he came on, and Jake took his goal well.

“Finn (Reeve) was excellent as usual at left-back and his corner for the winner was superb, and Ewan (Reeves) was man-of-the-match for his goal and defending.

“We’ve got to be happy, but we just didn’t fire as we wanted and didn’t really have a go at them.

Bude are back in action on Wednesday night (October 15) when they welcome second bottom Dobwalls (7.30pm).

BUDE TOWN: Ty Rowe; Jamie Gorst, James Wheeler, Ewan Reeves (capt), Finn Reeve; Jake Woodland, Archie Perrott (Dylan Morgan, 39); Harry Hopcroft (Aaron Hart, 77), Jake Gilbert (Ben Trenaman, 73), Harrison Swatton; Jago Tweitman (Aaron White, 66). Sub not used: Liam Dart.

Seasiders’ man-of-the-match: Ewan Reeves.