CREDITON faced Appledore in a Tuesday night clash, on September 26, with a chance to close the gap on the leaders and move up to second in the table.

Unusually Appledore have found themselves at the wrong end of the table so far this season, registering just two wins and one draw, but Crediton were sure to be in a battle against the physical North Devon side.

Trenaman welcomed back Goss to partner himself at centre-half, in the absence of Groom, whilst Pryce was handed a start in central midfield. Skinner returned to the starting line up for the first time since recovering from his broken leg, after featuring briefly during Saturday’s triumph over Brislington.

It was the visitors who started the brightest as they set about a direct style of play, with Langford in particular causing problems aerially.

Crediton were seeing a lot of the ball but could not penetrate the giant Appledore back three, who were paying very close attention to lone front man, Ord.

Waring wasn’t really forced into any meaningful saves during the opening quarter, but there was a few nervy moments in the Kirton defensive ranks as they had to deal with a lot of long balls forward.

At the other end Morish was causing problems down the left, linking up with, the more advanced than usual, Bilcock. He turned his man inside and out before delivering a cross which just evaded the head of Ord.

Crediton’s first real chance came in the 25th minute, Goss somehow found himself in a right wing position and cut back for Morish, who fired just wide.

Then Yao cut in from the left, beating his opponent with ease, but he could only fire straight at visiting ‘keeper Thorne, who made the save.

Crediton were building up ahead of steam and then it was Ord who went agonisingly close. A Bilcock free kick was whipped into a great area, but Ord headed just over, with a free header from eight yards.

He did make amends 10 minutes later however, Morish cut in from the left and fired a pass into Ord’s feet, he turned sharply around one of the Fishermen’s clumsy giants and finished with aplomb.

It was Ord who continued to find the space and he nearly doubled his lead moments later, Yao delivering a great ball from the right, but his first time effort was straight at ... in the Appledore sticks.

It was Crediton who continued to have the better opportunities but they were just lacking that bit of quality in the final third to pull further ahead.

It nearly worked for them on 40 minutes, Morish and Bilcock linking well again, before Morish jinked past two defenders and the ‘keeper, but his heavy touch allowed Tucker to clear.

At the other end the back four were looking more assured, with Skinner looking like he’d never been away.

Half-time arrived and Crediton went in with a slender one-goal lead, but you felt they could punish the visitors more in the second half if they continued to play their passing game and move them around.

The second 45 minutes adopted a very similar pattern to the first, Appledore continuing to go direct, with Crediton doing the majority of the passing.

Trenaman and Goss were eating up the long balls forward, with Carpenter and Skinner seeing a lot of the ball in the full-back areas.

Carpenter played a long ball over the top to put Ord in, but he couldn’t quite gather it and Tucker recovered to avert the danger.

The second goal did arrive in the 60th minute and it was that man Ord again, who looks to have rediscovered his shooting boots.

Bilcock played him in down the left channel, before he cut inside Cann and unleashed an unstoppable drive into the top right corner from 20 yards, a fine strike to give Crediton some breathing space.

Pryse then picked up a booking after a late challenge and was soon replaced by 18-year-old debutant Tapp. Lee was then dropped into a deeper role to shield the back four, as Crediton looked happy with their two-goal cushion.

Youngster Tapp was soon into the action, showing great pace down the left, he attempted to square for Ord who had a tap in at the far post, but Cann intercepted and the chance was gone.

Appledore went close through Langford and then Barker forced Waring into a good save from a shot through a crowd of players, which he saw very late.

The Fishermen started to push forward in search for a route back into the game, but they found a Crediton defence in fine form, who were taking some breaking down.

In the last 20 minutes it was the visitors seeing more of the ball, with Crediton content to sit back on their lead. The home side had opportunities on the counter, but could not make the right decisions or execute the right pass, to create further goal scoring opportunities and put the game to bed.

Crediton continued to defend resolutely and they held onto their lead to pick up a 2-0 victory, without really getting out of third gear for the majority of the match.

They did show glimpses of quality in the final third, which has been lacking of late and this will be important going into Saturday’s tricky match away at in-form St Martin’s.

The short trip to Exminster is a 3pm kick off, which is sure to be a cracker, as both sides are fighting it out at the top end of the table.

Dave Lee