SDFL premier division

Watcombe

Wanderers 1,

Dartmouth AFC 2

Dartmouth recorded an excellent 2-1 victory against a Wat­combe Wanderers side that had not been beaten in the league for almost two years.

For the third consecutive week Dartmouth were slightly under-strength, this week missing the formidable Karl Baker in attack, and were forced to field reserve team players Dan Drury, Ben Greeno and Charlie Smith.

However, from the very first whistle the away side were the team in the ascendancy, and with Greeno, Mark Forrester and Charlie Smith battling for every ball in the middle of midfield, Dartmouth really fancied their chances of causing an upset. That said, the first real chance of the game fell the way of Watcombe, but Darts' Ryan Walton was called into action to save well with his legs.

The resulting corner was well dealt with by Dartmouth, and as they broke clear down the other end space opened up for Greeno to sting the hands of the Watcombe goalkeeper.

The away side continued to grow in confidence and were the team playing the more attractive football, and with Josh Webber running at his full-back at every opportunity there was always going to be a chance for Dartmouth to grab the first goal.

They came agonisingly close to doing so after 25 minutes, but after Charlie Smith worked the ball well in the penalty box he placed his effort just wide of the far post.

Five minutes later and Watcombe were let off the hook again, this time Webber, striker Liam McAuley and wide man Freddie Smith all coming close to breaking the deadlock.

With the scores level at half time, the away side knew that Wat­combe would come out and take the game to their opponents, but the ever-improving Jordan Frost and Drury excellently marshalled the home strikers at the heart of the defence.

Dartmouth continued to sustain their high intensity play and should have scored on the hour mark; Webber caused havoc once again down the left side and his cross was blocked on the line, but Freddie Smith was unable to turn home the loose ball among a melee of players.

As they have done so often in the last couple of years, Watcombe took the lead when the home striker finished instinctively into the top corner of the net, giving Walton no chance in the Dart­mouth goal.

Despite this setback, the away side looked the likelier of the teams to grab the next goal, and Danny Anisas Mena went close after breaking free on the right wing.

With 10 minutes remaining they levelled the game when more superb play from Web­ber gave McAuley the chance to equalise, and he duly obliged by tucking the ball away expertly past the 'keeper's left-hand side and into the back of the net.

Surprisingly, Wat­combe struggled to carve out any clear-cut goal-scoring opportunities, with Kurtley Has­sall and Ryan Frost assisting the Dart­mouth centre-backs with some timely interceptions.

With only minutes to go, Dartmouth deser­vedly edged in front when McAuley slotted into the net with composure to give the away side the lead.

Unlike last weekend, Dartmouth held on to record their first-ever win over their opponents, and this narrowly takes them to the top of the league ahead of East Allington.

This weekend the first team will be hoping for a similar performance away at sixth-placed Stoke Gabriel reserves, and Dart­mouth reserves host Teign Village at Long­cross in the league.

Both games start at 2.30pm, and all support is welcome.