ON Saturday, April 1, Sandford AFC First Team travelled to Horsdon Park, Tiverton to play Elmore Second team in the Devon and Exeter Premier Football League.

The pitch was not suitable for any sort of skill or passing game because of very long grass and a very bumpy surface.

A few minutes after the start, left winger Chris Hawkes ran on to a through ball and, as he went to shoot, the ball bobbled up and his shot went wide.

Then, a lovely through ball from Dan McCann led to a corner for Sandford from which he rose high in the box to head home. 0-1 to the "ford".

The goal prompted Elmore to come more into the game and several shots and headers came the way of the Sandford goal, but none were on target.

On 27 minutes the "ford" had a free kick outside the box but it came to nothing.

On 41 minutes, young Danny Carroll was hauled down by an Elmore player, who was booked.

Half-time arrived with Sandford leading 1-0.

The second half started with Elmore pressing forward and only a finger tip save by Matt Parsell kept the lead secure. With Danny and Jack Perry working hard in mid field, and everyone else working hard to defend, Sandford made two or three subs bringing on Steven Dymond to play up front.

Tudor Morgan Huggett had to come off after suffering a head injury.

Darren Hughes came close to scoring when the ball came across from the right wing, only for him to miss making contact by inches.

Then, within the matter eight to 10 minutes, Elmore brought on fresh legs up front which led to them scoring three times against a tiring Sandford defence.

The "ford" kept fighting and got another goal when the ball came to front runner Dymond who hit a peach of a shot into the roof of the home goal with the keeper beaten. 3-2 to Elmore.

Sandford kept fighting until the end but suffered a 3-2 loss which, for the team and supporters, was a hard pill to swallow because they had a perfectly good goal disallowed for offside, which it wasn't.

This Saturday the First Team are home to Ottery Seconds. KO 3pm.

The Second Team suffered another defeat, this time to Witheridge, who I believe did the double over them.

On Saturday they are away to City Raiders, KO 3pm.

Let's hope fortunes are better for both sides. And remember, "Come on the 'ford'." 

A J H