STOKE Gabriel & Torbay Police 2nd XI took one step closer to a top-three finish in the South Devon Football League’s Division One with victory on Saturday, May 2.

The Bees visited Ipplepen Athletic 2nds, who are fighting it out at the other end of the table, and notched seven unanswered goals.

This Stoke side have now won six on the spin and are scoring goals for fun. Two weeks ago, they beat Ipplepen 3-1 in the reverse fixture before then putting nine past Waldon Athletic reserves, Adam Blackburn helping himself to five of them.

It seems unlikely that Stoke Gabriel will be able to catch Galmpton United and Kingskerswell ahead of them but with the latter beating fourth-placed Kingsteignton Athletic 2nds on the weekend, their hold on third place has grown stronger.

This time around Stoke will welcome mid-table South Brent to Broadley Lane.

Elsewhere in the SDFL, several South Hams teams had difficult outings, East Allington United losing at home to Chudleigh Athletic and Beesands Rovers conceding six on their travels in the Premier Division and Division One respectively.

In the top-flight, Totnes & Dartington came from behind to grab a point against Ilsington Villa whilst the aforementioned Galmpton, who lead Division Three at the time of writing, edged out South Brent by two goals to nil.

Lastly in the South Hams, Harbertonford also drew 2-2 away from home and Kingsbridge & Kellaton United were on the receiving end of a 6-0 drubbing.

Alongside Stoke Gabriel, another in-form SDFL side is Buckland Athletic 2nd XI, of Division One.

The Yellows won once more with the rain pouring down at Homers Heath courtesy of an early strike from PJ Sharples against Paignton Villa.

Sharples latched onto a through-ball and remained calm to sweep his side ahead with less than five minutes on the clock.

They couldn’t have hoped for a better start and despite growing stronger and stronger, the second goal eluded them.

At the other end, Villa had a couple of opportunities in the first half but Bucks goalkeeper Harry Meaden was out quickly to thwart their advances.

In the middle of the park, Buckland were notably dominant and were running the game, their technical players then linking up well with attacking duo Sharples and Kai Swann, both of whom were good outlets.

It was a commanding 45 minutes with the weather playing something of a part, followed by a goalless second half.

Buckland remain in eighth after this victory and are building the gap between themselves and the sides below them, although all of them have multiple games in hand still to cash in on.

There was plenty of drama elsewhere in the SDFL and perhaps none more so than at Osborne Park, where Newton Abbot 66 played host to The Windmill in the top-flight.

First place visited 10th place and with the leaders five goals to the good at the turnaround, nobody would have anticipated what would follow.

Strikes from Liam Ashwell (2), Joe Clark-Farley, Luke Snell and substitute Freddie Hulance saw 66 come back and rescue the most unlikely of points.

This slip-up for the Windmill means that Plymouth True Blues are now 12 points behind them with three games in hand.

There are plenty of cup finals on the agenda currently including Chudleigh 2nds vs Bere Alston 2nds in the Les Bishop Cup, taking place at Duckspond. Jack Salmon scored the decisive goal to win it for Chudleigh.