SDFL

Premier Division

Waldon Athletic 2,

Dartmouth AFC 6

Dartmouth AFC claimed an important three points with victory away to Waldon Athletic at the weekend.

Dartmouth, who were without Lee Fen­ner, Solley Metchette and both Karl and Rich­ie Baker, travelled to Torquay with just 11 players and knew only a win would do if they had any chance of winning the league title.

The away side started off quickly and nearly scored in the second minute. Freddie Smith played the ball through to brother Charlie, who found himself one-on-one with the away ‘keeper, but his right footed strike went across the goal and just wide of the far post.

Dartmouth’s task was made all the more difficult when Jack White had to leave the field after only 10 minutes with a suspected pulled hamstring, leaving Mark Forrester’s side to play with 10 players for the remainder of the game.

This didn’t have any impact on the game as the visitors continued to press forward for the opening goal which duly arrived after 20 minutes. Charlie Smith dispossessed a Waldon midfielder before playing the ball out to lively left winger Josh Web­ber.

His low, driven cross flew across the face of goal and was hammered home by striker Dan Rankin, who was making his first start in his second spell at the club.

Waldon looked to respond immediately but found the ever reliable back four of ‘keeper Ryan Walton, Jordan Frost, Danny Rushe and Ollie Woolland in no mood to allow them back into the contest.

It was, in fact, the 10 men of Dartmouth who continued to threaten and another excellent first-time Webber delivery just eluded the run of central midfielder Ben Greeno at the back post.

A few more good openings around the Waldon penalty area saw Webber shoot wide from inside the area and then Rushe go close with a long-range strike as Dartmouth went into the break one goal to the good.

The away side were determined to ensure their dominance continued in the second half and they doubled their advantage in the 55th minute.

A delightful Webber through ball found the run of Rankin and he showed his quality by rounding the Waldon ‘keeper and firing in from a tight angle.

Clear daylight was put between the two teams five minutes later to all but seal the three points. It was that man Webber causing havoc again on the left-hand side as he found the run of Greeno on the edge of the box and he kept his composure to loft the ball over the reach of the ‘keeper despite losing his footing in the process.

Waldon responded by scoring a conten­tious penalty not long after Greeno’s goal, but any hopes of getting back into the match soon evaporated when Rankin completed his hat-trick with a clinical left-footed finish in the penalty area.

The home side re­fused to give up and made the score 2-4 after an excellent solo goal from their central midfielder. However, Dart­mouth scored again with 15 minutes to play to regain their three-goal advantage.

Walton commanded his area to claim the ball from a corner and showed good vision to find the run of Freddie Smith. The right wing-back ran the length of the field before cutting in to the box and slotting through the legs of the Waldon ‘keeper to score a long overdue first goal of the season.

A brilliant away performance was completed with five minutes left to play courtesy of another clinical piece of finishing from Rankin.

He was fed the ball on the edge of the box and shot first time into the top corner of the net to seal an excellent victory for Dartmouth.

This win keeps the first team in contention at the top of the league and they were hoping to replicate this performance away to Ivy­bridge Town reserves on Wednesday even­ing.

Dartmouth are without a game on Satur­day; their next fixture is a home match under the floodlights at Long­cross on Wednesday, kick-off 7.30pm.

The club will be hoping Dartmouth AFC reserves are victorious tonight when they play in the Ronald Cup final against Liverton United reserves.

Kick-off is at 7.30pm at Bovey Tracey’s ground and all support is welcomed and greatly appreciated.