Mens Team Vs Duchy A

Oke Men's 2nd XI travelled to Pool to play an experienced Duchy side that are traditionally difficult to beat at home. It was certainly going to be a challenge as the visitors could only muster a 10-man team. The scale of the challenge was soon apparent as the home side scored from an attack within the first 5 minutes. From the restart the mountain in front of the travelling side loomed even larger as they were reduced to 9 men as Ali Hill pulled up lame with a recurrence of a knee injury. The Duchy side pressed hard but the valiant Okehampton defence drowned out attack after attack, with the returning Mark Bingham making numerous interceptions and well-timed tackles. Oke made the most of rare opportunities to get forward with some fine, surging runs from Man of the Match Neil Rowlands as well as the youthful Alfie Morgan and the ageless Chris Luxton, but they failed to trouble the home keeper. In the meantime Duchy had slotted in another three goals by the end of the first 35 minutes.

Tireless defending from the away side kept Duchy at bay for the first 20 minutes of the second half but as legs tired the defence was breached and further goals followed in quick succession with wave after wave of Duchy attacks. A sterling effort from the visitors ended in an 8-0 loss but it could have been much more without the ever improving Matt Westlake's string of fine saves.