Stitch2Print Devon & Exeter League division one: Ottery St Mary 2nds 3, Wellington Reserves 5
Our Reserves returned to action by extending their run of victories in difficult conditions at Ottery.
Man-of-the-match was Aaron Hawkings, who is pictured being congratulated by club stalwart Jeff Brown.
After three weeks without a fixture, they were keen for the game to go ahead which it did after two inspections but it was going to be a challenging game for Mark Owen’s team on a very heavy pitch.
The match was very even in the early stages although, with Wellington playing up the hill, they started to take control of the game and created all the early chances.
It was no surprise when the Tangerines took the lead as a fine move up the right resulted in the ball being played to Luke Perry on the left of the box who hit a first time shot across the keeper, 1-0.
It was not long before a second came and it was a brilliant finish from Ollie Nott.
A ball into the box was partially cleared by the keeper and, from 20 yards out, he calmly clipped the ball over everyone and into the empty net.
With Ottery causing very little threat on the Wellington goal it was a surprise when they pulled a goal back.
A long ball was played forward and Ned Ogilvie and Charlie Hawkings both seemed to leave it to each other with the Ottery forward nipping in to net.
With Ottery now on top for the first time in the game, Wellington had to dig deep and defend well on a pitch which was cutting up.
With the game heading towards half-time Nott scored his second and Wellington’s third. He picked the ball up just outside the box, held off an Ottery player and hit a low shot past the keeper and into the corner – 3-1 to Wellington at the break.
Ottery started the second half well, controlling the ball with Wellington struggling to keep hold possession.
The hosts scored from a free kick as the ball went over everyone and left the Ottery player unmarked eight yards for a simple finish.
With Ottery now the dominant team they scored again from another free kick. The ball was chipped into the far post, a home player won the header which ran across the goal line for the on-running attacker to knock it in at the far post – 3-3 only ten minutes into the second half.
Owen tried to rally his team and calm things down and could not have been happier with his players’ response.
Within five minutes of Ottery’s equaliser they went back in front. Rohan Poulsom picked the ball up about 25 yards out, drove at the Ottery defence and, as he swept into the area, he hit a shot across the keeper to make it 4-3.
Wellington now took control and seemed to be winning the ball all over the park and taking the game to Ottery.
Owen made four changes as the game moved into the last 15 minutes and it was one of the subs who completed a fantastic team goal.
After some fine passes in midfield, the ball was played out wide and, from a drilled cross, Alfie Barratt – running in hard with a defender – hit it first time past the keeper from ten yards.
Wellington only needed to play out the last five minutes for an entertaining 5-3 win.
Team: Charlie Hawkings, Ned Ogilvie, Dylan Groves, Connor Noble, Tom Davies, Sam Poole, Aaron Hawkings, Dom Healey, Luke Perry, Ollie Nott, Rohan Poulsom Substitutes: Wes Poulsom, Lenny Old, Alfie Barratt, Logan Sellick (all used); Mark Owen (not used).
