Newton Abbot 2 Bovey Tracey 1

 From the Newton Abbot website:

Moxon fires double in Derby day win

Written by Kevin Besford

While most of the local games fell victim to the recent rain the Rec hosted a combative local derby game between Spurs and a Bovey Tracey side under the new management of Will Small.

A healthy crowd of 261 turned up to see the festive fare with the pitch playing rather heavy and a downpour in the second half causing the majority to leave a lot wetter than they had arrived.

Spurs were the first to celebrate but it was short lived as an effort from Simon Revell was ruled out by an eagle eyed assistant to keep the scoresheet blank.

The hosts were having the best of things and Gavin Collins could well have scored on twenty minutes when he rounded the keeper but could not find the net from a tight angle.

The real drama came along on the half hour mark when a James Moxon shot came back to Gavin Collins who turned, only to be brought down by Jordan Ewing leaving referee Graeme Martin to point to the spot.

Moxon placed the ball and struck the spot kick well only to see it well saved by keeper Rhys Williams but unfortunately for him the ball spun along the line and Moxon was alert enough to pounce on the loose ball before anyone else could react and fire home for the opener.

Apart from a couple of speculative efforts and a snap shot from Damien Francis-Furnivall that went well wide Spurs were in control and dominating play.

Five minutes from the break some flowing football brought a second for Spurs. The ball was played long wide to Owen Green on the right flank, who hit a first time cross low across goal to find Moxon at the far post to slot home from close range.

With Spurs in control the visitors won a corner in stoppage time and the ensuing scramble saw the ball stabbed home across the line from close range to pull one back.

The second half started with worsening conditions as the rain returned and produced a heavy downpour for the next half an hour.

The standard of play in the second half dropped as a result as neither side could string anything together and chances were few and far between. Both keepers saved all that was thrown at them and both were also spilling a lot of long range efforts only to gather at the second attempt.

Both sides used their full compliment of substitutes to try and produce something but the most noted factor was the reduction in numbers of watching spectators as the bar became more attractive and much drier.

The game drifted to a conclusion and the three points were safely in the bag for Spurs. The pitch will now have a couple of weeks to recover before the visit of Ivybridge on the 8^th of January