South West Peninsula League Division 1 East

LIVERTON UNITED 0 - CREDITON UNITED 2

CREDITON finally got the chance to play their first game in 14 weeks away to Liverton on a blustery sunny day on a wet pitch in South Devon.

Crediton lined up in a flat 4-3-3 formation with the hosts adopting a defensive 3-5-2 system.

The game started with Crediton having the wind behind them and trying to use the wind to squeeze up the pitch and get onto the front foot.

Both teams were showing excellent commitment with many tackles being full-blooded, but both teams struggling to create any clear cut chances.

The best chance of the opening half hour fell to Simon Durrant with a free kick from 20 yards, but his low drive went three yards wide.

The deadlock was broken on 34 minutes, when a horrendous sliced clearance from the Liverton goalkeeper fell to Richard Blake 25 yards from goal.

He could have ran through further but took the chip on and found the top corner with an excellent finish.

The rest of the half was played out without any further alarms at either end.

The second half started with the hosts playing long towards their tall striker who was holding the ball up well.

With few chances being created at both ends, Crediton should have sealed the game on 58 minutes. Steve Morish was put clean through on goal but his awful left-footed shot from 10 yards found its way right into the back of the car park instead of the net.

A powerful header from Trenaman at the back post from a corner was superbly tipped onto the crossbar from the home ‘keeper to keep the hosts in the game.

Liverton’s best chance came on 72 minutes, the ball bouncing nicely and a sweet half volley looped over Waring but hit the bar and bounced to safety.

The visitors wrapped the game up on 77 - a lovely inside ball from the skinner found Pike, his low drive from 18 yards was saved by the ‘keeper but the alert Steve Morish was on-hand to tap home from 10 yards to effectively seal the game.

There was time for Daryl Pidgeon to have a run out from the bench and Crediton saw the game out.

Having not played for so long the result was the most important thing and a clean sheet was pleasing.

The lads were compact and restricted Liverton to only half chances and looked solid throughout.

Ben Waller had his best game of the season at full-back and Dave Lee put in a commanding captain’s performance at centre half.

Crediton now start a run against the leagues top three, Teignmouth, at home, followed by Tiverton and St Martin’s away.

Nathan Keast