Budleigh Salterton welcomed Thorverton for a rare Wednesday night game in the Devon Football League as clubs start to catch up on fixtures from all the wet weather at the beginning of the year. A good sized crowd turned up on a cold Wednesday evening and the question on the mind of most was would we see a full football match? With the thick fog making visibility difficult, it wouldn’t need to get much worse for the game to come to a halt.

The hosts were fastest out of the starting blocks and came close after just a couple of minutes when Evan Slater shot narrowly wide of the target. This is a chance missed that would come back to haunt the hosts as before long they found themselves with a mountain to climb.

Just moments later, Thorverton had taken the lead after an attacking run down the left by Rocco MacPherson resulted with the ball across goal being tapped in at the far post by Oliver Back to the delight of the travelling faithful and one soon became two just minutes later as the visitors were given a penalty. Sam Stewart calmly took the penalty firing into the bottom left hand corner.

Suddenly the hosts had their work cut out as they tried to find a way back into the match but they lacked quality within their final pass. As they continued to look forward they left gaps at the back and this gave the visitors a chance to extend their lead but Reece Stevens fired a long range effort just wide of the target.

Thorverton took the two goal lead into the break and the atmosphere inside both changing rooms would’ve been contrasting with the away changing rooms delighted with their first half whilst the hosts knew they would have to work hard to get anything from the match.

The second half begun just like the first half ended with the visitors making the most of the gaps at the back and they almost found a third as a long diagonal ball by Stevens found Beckham Pyatt who hit a first time volley just wide of the target. A moment which would have been a goal to remember in any game had it found the back of the net.

As the second half reached the midway point Budleigh were given a lifeline when the referee pointed to the spot following a handball by the Thorverton defender. Callum Monks stepped up to the spot and fired the effort straight down the middle and into the back of the net. Was this the start to a comeback by the Robins?

Just moments after conceding, Thorverton had the ball in the back of the net once again, however, this time the flag was in the air to prevent the goal from standing. As the ball took a deflection it fell into the path of Jacob Dack who finished calmly into the back of the net but he quickly spotted the offside flag disallowing his goal.

Desperately looking for an equaliser, the end of the game became one way traffic with Thorverton defending in numbers and they managed to cope with the majority of what was thrown their way. Shaun Josh had a great chance to level the score but his shot was well saved by the visiting shot stopper Toby Fletcher who flicked the effort over the bar.

Thorverton managed to hang on for all three points and the fog didn’t get any worse meaning we managed to get a whole game of football. Both sides now have a busy end of season schedule, like most clubs, due to all the weather early in the year as there are plenty more midweek fixtures over the coming weeks.

Budleigh Salterton team: James Sharkey, Kyle Peters, Miles Barron, Callum Monks, Harrison King, Finley King, Harry Gibbings, Charlie Skinner, Kyle Bassett, Evan Slater, Adam Watts

Subs: Jake Chudley, Jordan O’Shaugnessy, Timothy Bradshaw, Nathan Bochenski, Shaun Josh

Thorverton team: Toby Fletcher, Oliver Back, Reece Stevens, Ben Stevens, Joe Radford, Oliver Saunders, Beckham Pyatt, Sam Stewart, Will Burwood, Rocco MacPherson, Jamal Bokhammas

Subs: Max Oliver, Callan Stone, Alireza Nabizadeh, Paddy O’Loughlan, Jacob Dack