Barnstaple Town 2nd’s 1-3 Beer Albion 1st’s

Beer Albion 1st’s came from a goal behind to score 3 times in the last 25 minutes of the game to seal a 3-1 victory away at Barnstaple Town 2nd’s writes Mark Rooke. Playing conditions were very soft under foot with huge divots appearing all over the pitch. Both sides were constantly loosing their footing, making good football difficult.

Barnstaple were a lot stronger than the previous week where they were hammered 7-0 by Budleigh whereas a under strength Beer hit by injuries were forced to line up with 7 defenders.

The Fishermen were lethargic from the outset and were outplayed by Barnstaple in the first half. To compound things, centre back Liam Cox was forced to retire with a torn muscle after just 10 minutes.

Barnstaple took a deserved lead when their winger went unchallenged down the right flank and fired home an unstoppable strike. Minutes later he did exactly the same but this time his shot hit the bar.

The home side continued to dominate proceedings and only a superb goalkeeping display by Elliot Driver kept the deficit to one goal. In particular, a  save where he bravely threw himself in front of three goal bound efforts in quick succession was outstanding.

Beer were lucky to keep 11 players on the pitch when Finley Rooke got involved in an altercation but he escaped with just a yellow card.

After the break, Beer showed some improvement but were still below their best and Driver was still the busier of the two keepers with some exemplary handling and sweeping to thwart Barnstaple’s forwards.

As the game entered the final 25 minutes, the Fishermen finally began to get some control on the game although the final ball continued to lack quality. However, they eventually equalised when substitute Josh Lund chased a lost cause and  forced the keeper to rush his clearance. The ball ricocheted off Lund into the net. 

The slice of luck was just what Beer needed and within 2 minutes they were 2-1 in front when another clearance from the Barnstaple keeper landed in front of Finley Rooke 30 yards out. Rooke saw the keeper off his line and his first time shot sailed over the keeper into the net.

Beer were now on top and 9 minutes into added time Josh French sealed the 3-1 victory with a speculative strike which flew past the surprised keeper. 

For Beer, wing back Matt Berry put in a great shift and Charlie Ledger did well as sweeper but the indisputable man of the match was keeper Elliot Driver.

Despite the win, Beer’s injury list continues to grow and manager Mark Rooke will be hoping that he has a fully-recovered squad in time for next Saturday’s very tough Devon Premier Cup tie at Exeter University