Beer Albion Reserves moved up to 7th in Division Three of the Macron Devon & Exeter with an excellent 5-1 home win against Lympstone at a windy Furzebrake writes Mike Adkin. The visitors arrived sitting one point above the Fishermen and having played four games fewer, but after an evenly contested first half, the homesters took full control as the second period progressed. There were few clear cut chances for much of the opening half an hour, the best for Beer being a Simon Smith free kick on 19 minutes which just shaved the crossbar. However, on 30 minutes the Fishermen were awarded a fortunate free kick 25 yards out, and Billy Long's low strike was missed by a defender before squeezing in under the diving Lympstone keeper. Half time came with Beer maintaining a narrow 1-0 lead, but four minutes after the re-start the visitors had squared things at 1-1, midfielder Righard Higham's well struck shot looping up and over Beer gloveman Henry Bartlett. However, home advantage was restored a minute later when a Simon Smith shot found its way through a crowded penalty area, and again under the unsighted keeper. The Fishermen now started to dictate more of the play, and went 3-1 ahead on 65 minutes, after new signing Giles Basson's well struck shot into the left hand corner of the visitor's goal. With 20 minutes to go, Lympstone then had a great chance to get back into the game after Dan Jeeves's clumsy challenge in the box, but keeper Bartlett made a great one-handed save from the resulting penalty, pushing the ball away outside of his left post. Four minutes later, Beer made it 4-1 with the ever busy Max Richardson striking home, and Basson completed the scoring on 82 minutes, picking up a loose ball in the visitor's penalty area, and slotting yet another ball under the keeper's despairing dive. Another well earned three points for the Albion's young second string, who remain unbeaten at home in the league this season. Gloveman Bartlett gave one of his best displays of the season, making several crucial saves, but match sponsor Seaton Sambapicked out two goal Basson as man of the match, after a very promising debut at the Furzebrake.
Reserves hit 5
Mike Akin