Wednesday 25th Jan

British Colleges Sport NCFL Football

Exeter College 4 South Devon College 0

 South Devon lose out to the division’s top side in much improved performance to remain 6th in the table……

South Devon College travelled to Exeter City's Cat and Fiddle training ground for their lasted league game against high flyers Exeter College. Played in windy conditions South Devon where always going to find this a tough encounter, having lost in both previous meetings this season. Manager Alex Watson was forced to re-shuffle his pack due to several absentees, Sean Summers tucking inside to play a more central role and giving a debut to Liam Northcott wide on the left.

The game started at a high tempo with South Devon pressing well trying to force Exeter into losing possession and using the pace of Ryan Frayne up front. The opening 25 minutes saw little goal mouth action as both teams cancelled out each other. However as the half moved on Exeter started to get some success attacking down both flanks, their pacey wingers now becoming a constant threat to South Devon's fullbacks, Nic Warren and Ali Palmer. It now started to look only a matter of time before Exeter would open the scoring and they did rather fortuitously on 32 minutes. Exeter played the ball out to their left winger whom, despite be surrounded by three South Devon players, somehow managed to send over a cross. Keeper Jimmy Spriggs come out to claim and was clearly fouled by Exeter’s encroaching forward who bundled the ball into the net. South Devon now seemed to play with more passion and belief and came close to claiming an equaliser just before the break. After winning the ball in midfield, Dan Ashworth was felled by a reckless tackle some 30 yards out. From the resulting free kick, superbly delivered by Northcott, Ryan Harrison-White saw his header just fly over the bar. That turned out to be the final bit of action as the referee blew for half-time.

The half time talk consisted of words of encouragement  from Alex Watson, particulary on the way South Devon were holding their shape, although tighter marking was required to stop Exeter’s passing game.

The second half started much as the first with South Devon working hard to gain possession only to persistently give it back to their host's far too often. With the second half only 7 minutes old Exeter doubled their lead. South Devon over played at the back, and as Palmer failed to clear Exeter’s left winger sent over across which got picked up by the wind and flew into the far corner over the hapless Spriggs. 2-0 down South Devon still huffed and puffed to little reward, although the tireless Frayne did go close after shaking off three home defenders, only to be tackled by the fourth as he was about to unleash a rare shot at goal. As the half progressed Exeter continued to attack using their width, a missed timed tackle by center-half Jerrad Routledge, allowed the forward to turn and as Warren failed to clear the Exeter player latched onto the loose ball to score his second and Exeter’s third. Manager Watson now made two changes, bringing on subs Shaun Newland and Aaron Walker. South Devon had a chance to pull a goal back when a cross from deep saw George Yates sneak in-between the home defence only to see his glancing header go wide of the goal. This proved to be South Devon’s last chance and Exeter finally put the game to rest as South Devon again failed to clear the ball with any conviction allowing Exeter to score the fourth and final goal of the game.

On reflection manager Watson was pleased with the overall effort and team shape although a little disappointed with individual mistakes as 4-0 was not a fare reflection on the game.

 Team:- Spriggs 6 Warren 6 Routledge 6 Harrison-White 7 Palmer 6 Dickinson 6 Summers 7 Ashworth 6 Yates 6 Northcott 6 Frayne 8 Newland 5 Walker 5

Coaches Alex Watson & Darren Gibson

Wednesday 25th Jan

British Colleges Sport SW Football

South Devon College 0 Ivybridge College 2

 Devon lose out in top of the table clash to remain 3rd in the league…..

This was an entertaining game of football, very competitive and a good contest right to the end. Ivybridge came as the leading team in the division, with a good scoring record. Devon looked to combat this by lining up in a 4 – 5 – 1 formation to nullify their midfield and looking to attack them on the break.

This worked well leading up to the half time break, before a disappointing header from Smith into his own goal gave them the lead. Ivybridge buoyed by the goal looked to further their advantage against a Devon side in shock at the manner in which they conceded, and they scored again with a great strike into the top corner giving Tarr in goal no chance.

Devon lifted themselves after the break and playing with the slope on the pitch, were giving Ivybridge plenty of problems, with Hassell outstanding in the holding midfield role, opportunities were created, but not taken and Ivybridge continued to show their class playing good football with talented players. Devon stuck to their tasks and played their part in an entertaining game, the spirit was excellent with positive performances throughout. Hassell was a deserved man of the match, but Brown, Tarr and George all gave strong displays, whilst Shaw had a particularly good second half, overall a very encouraging performance despite the result.

M Tarr (8), A George (8), L Tapp (8), S Brown (8), S Smith (8), K Hey (8), K Hassell (9), B Spriggs (8), F Smith (8), S Kelly (8), P Shaw (8), R Killin Clark (8)

Coach Dave Newton

Wednesday 25th Jan

British Colleges Sport Cup R4

South Devon College 70 St Brendan’s College 62

 Devon make it 14 wins on the bounce to remain unbeaten in all competitions and progress through to the National stages of the BCS cup….

South Devon College Panthers put in a superb performance to progress through to the National finals of the British Colleges Sport Cup competition having won through the regional section by beating Truro and Bridgwater Colleges on the road before this encounter. This was a tougher game then the score indicates and the team played hard to get the result. Without talisman Jordan Cully out through injury, Tristan Hall and Sam Flanders led the way for the team with individual scores of 24 and 22 respectively.

Playing St Brendan’s 6th form College from Bristol who play in the elite league above South Devon was always going to be a challenge. The first qrt tested the team when they fell behind 23- 14, and Devon left themselves a lot to do in the second qrt. But with some excellent team defence and a change in tactics Devon finished the half 8 point’s ahead going into the 3rd.

 St Brendan’s pulled the game back to a 2pt game going into the 4th, but Panthers managed to maintain the lead always keeping at least 4pts clear and with 40 seconds remaining great steals from Caleb Hutchins and Tristan Hall put the game out of reach for the visitors. Top scorers - Tristan Hall 22, Sam Flanders 24- Caleb Hutchins 17.

This was a good win for the Panthers, but we need to work on a few things before the nationals because the teams we face will be a lot tougher.

Squad

T Hall, S Flanders, J Noble, J Russell, C Hutchins, J Westlake, M Cheeseworth, C Caton,

Coach George Hatchell

Wednesday 25th Jan

British Colleges Sport SW Rugby

Richard Huish College 24 South Devon College 25

 Devon back to winning ways in close contest as they remain in contention at the top of the table…..

SDC entered their second away match on the trot full of confidence following their narrow defeat to Exeter College the previous week.  This confidence however was misplaced as SDC preformed under par for the vast majority of the match which in conjunction with the home sides strong display, lead to a very tight match.

 The match to the neutral was very exciting with the lead changing hand on several occasions and many of the tries showing skill and endeavour from both teams.  

 Most of the danger SDC encountered came through the Huish number 12 who on more than one occasion showed good pace and power to get over the gain line and also kicked very effectively at posts.  In return Huish struggled to contain the strong running and quick thinking of SDC scrum half Luke Smith whose quick taps at penalties continually gained ground and also lead to 2 great individual tries.

 All in all SDC improved greatly on their first half performance to find themselves in the lead with minutes remaining but still had to rely on a bit of luck to win the match.  Huish finished strongly and were awarded a penalty in a very kick able position, however a miscalculation on their part of the scoreline meant they opted to kick to touch.  The ball was subsequently knocked on, on the next play.  

Upcoming Fixtures

Monday 30th Jan

South Devon Basketball v Churston

Wednesday 1st Feb

South Devon Football 1st v Bridgwater College

South Devon Football 2nd v Truro College

South Devon Rugby v Weston College

South Devon Netball v Petroc College

South Devon Basketball v Petroc College

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