Article and photo by Tom Besford.

An extremely cold Saturday afternoon saw a hardy few turn out as Topsham Town welcomed Appledore to Coronation Field for an entertaining fixture. With many of the local fixtures around the Exeter area getting postponed due to frozen pitches, it wasn’t an issue at Topsham; however, the weather had played its toll with the match taking place on a heavy and muddy pitch.

Any late comers, of which there were a few, would’ve missed the opening goal and the first Devon League goal of 2025 as the hosts were ahead after forty five seconds. A free kick on the right wing was crossed into the box and headed back across goal into the far corner by James Skinner.

Topsham dominated the first half and could’ve doubled their lead just before the twenty minute mark, as a free kick into the box was cleared as far as Sam Tapp who volleyed over from the edge of the box.

It was only a couple of minutes after firing over before the hosts doubled their lead when David Mason bought down Harry Drew Cull in the box with the referee immediately pointing to the spot. Lee Radford stood up and calmly slotted the ball down the middle of the goal with visiting keeper Aaron Screech diving away towards the corner.

Appledore had to dig deep to try and find a way back into the game, and as the half drew to a close, they managed to scrape together a couple of chances as Brian Levien was played through on goal but could only fire straight at Martin Rice in the Topsham goal before James Harvey fired high and wide.

The second half started with a comedy of errors as the score almost became three, but thankfully, Screech had his blushes saved with the ball somehow not finding the back of the net. Screech fired a pass at the feet of Aaron Souster whose poor touch saw the ball fall to the feet of Topsham striker Lee Radford with an open goal in front of him. As Radford went to shoot, he slipped over and Screech just about managed to recover to retrieve the ball as it was slowly rolling towards the empty net.

With the second half less than ten minutes old, the visitors had managed to pull one back as substitute Rafe Barnes fired a left footed strike into the top corner from twenty five yards out past Rice who could do nothing to keep the effort out.

The second half was just like the first with one team on top but this time it was Appledore who dominated possession as they now looked for an equaliser, as they looked like a completely different team since the half time interval; whatever the management team had said in the changing rooms was clearly working.

Brian Levien played a standout performance for Appledore as he caused all sorts of problems for the Topsham defence, and he almost had an assist to his name as he floated a ball into the box from the left wing which found Noah Harris who glanced his header just wide.

As the game entered the final ten minutes, Levien managed to work his way down to the byline and drag his shot back across the penalty area finding Jamie Bowden unmarked who couldn’t keep his shot down as he fired over the bar.

The hosts were reduced to ten men with five minutes remaining, as a late tackle by Nathan May ended with him picking up his second yellow of the game and marching orders for an early shower. Appledore couldn’t make the man advantage count though and Topsham managed to hold out for all three points.

Topsham Town team: Martin Rice, James Skinner, Connor Pengelly, Lee Riggs, Adam Langabeer, Sam Tapp, Harry Drew Cull, Nathan May, Lee Radford

Subs: Ash Matthews, Sam Clarke, Ryan Saunders, Brad Phillips

Appledore team: Aaron Screech, Joseph Stevens, David Mason, Aaron Souster, Jonathan Elvins, James Harley, Noah Harris, Matt Bryce, Oscar Jarrett, Jason McGinley, Brian Levien

Subs: Jamie Bowden, Matthew Fay, Rafe Barnes