First silverware of the season in South Devon Football League

Congratulations to Kingskerswell FC, who wrapped up the Torbay Clearance Services South Devon Football League Division Four title with three games to play.

The job was done with a 6-3 victory at Broadhempston Utd, with title-winning goals from Shane Shobbrook (2), Josh Lowles (2) Charlie Clarke and Josh Cawsey, bringing home the trophy to the Kerswell Bowl.

The win was enough to secure the divisional title for Kerswell in their first season since reforming the adult team at the club, they remain the only team in all divisions with a 100% league record and a shout-out deserved for the club chairman Paul Edwards, who has done a lot of work behind the scenes to get the team up and running again.

They will now focus on not only remaining unbeaten but winning the divisional cup for a double. Standing in their way in the semi-final will be either Templar Way, Paignton Villa 3rds or Chudleigh Athletic 2nds.

The race is now for second place and its very tight to say the least, Teign Village have one game to play, Templar Way have two and Chudleigh 2nds have three. If Templar Way win their two games, they will get second place, but if Chudleigh win three, they have a better goal difference, so it could go to the wire and this week Chudleigh face Kerswell!

There were two shock results in the Premier Division that had an impact at both ends of the standings. Chudleigh Athletic can claim the result of the day with their 2-0 win at Kingsteignton Athletic.

The result moves them out of the bottom two thanks to a double strike from Gavin Lake and puts a serious dent in any hopes the Rams had of league honours, as they are now seven points off the lead with five games to play and puts just a bit more importance on this week’s Herald Cup fixture.

Chudleigh Athletic leapfrogged Elburton Villa, who drop back into the bottom two. Villa’s manager felt that they rolled over in their defeat to Paignton Saints, who are in a bit of form having lost only once in their last five outings. Jayden Brent, Connor Stewart, Jake Powell, Harvey Veysey and a cameo header from Billy Reay completed a 6-2 win in Plymouth and gives them a bit of mid-table security.

The other big result in the Premier Division was at Osbourne Park, where Buckfastleigh Rangers put four past Newton Abbot 66 without reply, the result sees the Greens move into third place, just three points behind Sixes, who remain in second place and both have five games to play.

There were also a couple of Belli Cup matches played on Saturday. Newton Abbot Spurs met Beesands Rovers yet again in a cup competition and the end result was the same, a 2-1 win for Spurs puts them in the hat for the semi-finals and leaves them well placed for a league and cup double.

Ilsington Villa will also be in the semi-final draw following their 3-1 win at East Allington. Daniel and Jack Langford were on the scoresheet and Matt Pilkington added a late third goal to complete the semi-final lineup of Ilsington Villa, Totnes and Dartington, Paignton Saints and Newton Abbot Spurs, the draw is on Monday, March 17.

Division One was the division of draws, with three of the four games ending in a stalemate. The big movers were Windmill, who cruised into second place with a 6-1 home win over rivals Bovey Tracey with goals from Tommie Sweet, Brodie Simpson and Sam Doyle, who each scored twice to inflict a heavy defeat and dent the Moorlanders hopes of a fourth consecutive promotion and the advantage would appear to be swinging west with three Plymouth teams chasing two promotion berths.

The three draws were all in the bottom half of the division, so it’s as you were in the placings. Brixham Town, who cannot seem to buy a win at the moment, had to settle for a 1-1 result against Newton Abbot Spurs 3rds but, having acquired some players from the demise of Brixham AFC, should be able to get some points from their remaining eight games.

Ivybridge Town remain adrift at the bottom but picked up a good point at Buckland Athletic despite having a player sent off. WBB also secured another point in their fight for survival, a 2-2 result versus Paignton Villa would suggest that the Claymen will have enough in the tank to complete the season.

Villa are seven points clear of the drop zone but only have three games to play, so could probably do with a win from one of them.

In Division Two, you have to read the whole story and then look at the numbers, Barton Athletic are an incredible 17 points clear with 4 games to play but here comes the problem.

Mount Gould have 13 games to play, East Allington 2nds have 10 games to play, Liverton and Watcombe Wanderers 2nds have 11 games to play and Babbacombe Corries have eight games to play, so it’s possible that Barton Athletic, who have led the division all season, could be caught and makes for an exciting final ten weeks to the Division Two season.

Their fixture this week has a bumper match report with photos on Facebook and as reported, a 4-2 win at Upton Athletic keeps them in control for the moment thanks to goals from David Lavalee, Zach Norton, Paddy Spreadbourgh and Mark Bevan.

The other league games also went with form, except bottom club Buckfastleigh Rangers 2nds holding 2nd place Paignton Villa to a 1-1 draw at the Duckspond but they are still ten points from safety.

Harbertonford moved into the safety zone with a fine 4-1 victory over Ipplepen Athletic. Luke Collens, George Hahn and Joshua Block were on target for the Fords at the Steve Jane ground. East Allington 2nds remain upwardly mobile, a 2-1 win at Bakers Park against Newton Rovers with goals from Sam Bruckner and Dan Bastin keeping the Pirates on course for league honours.

It is also very tight at the top of Division Three with five clubs still in the mix. Ashburton maintained their advantage at the top with a fine 4-1 home win against Waldon Athletic 2nds to put last week’s disappointment in the County Cup behind them.

Drake FC remain in second place on goal difference, a Callum Thomas double gave the points to the Plymouth-based outfit, who, with a small squad, remain a difficult team to beat. Stoke Gabriel TP are level on points but made some inroads into that goal difference with an 8-0 win versus Brixham Town 2nds. Daniel Trezise scored four with Mitch McMillan, Adam Blackburn, Daniel Beech and Dominic Collins adding singles.

South Brent and Newton Abbot 66 2nds shared the points in a 1-1 scoreline that both will be happy with, and in the League Cup, both Elburton Villa 3rds and Liverton 2nds made it into the hat for the semi-final draw.

Villa had a comfortable 7-2 win at home to Totnes and Dartington 2nds and Livvy won 5-2 at home against a good Watcombe Wanderers outfit. Aaron Underhill was the star of the show with four goals and a single from Oliver West completed a good afternoon for Livvy.

The County Senior Cup will be once again an all-SDFL affair between True Blues and Phoenix. True Blues were 3-1 victors over Exeter University and Phoenix were made to work to get the better of Mount Gould, who play in a division below, but the 1-0 scoreline sets up yet another meeting between these two sides who are battling for the Division One title and the Dartmouth Cup.

It's all up for the cup this week and I will start off with my game of the day in the quarter-final of the Herald Cup which is subject to a change of venue. Division One favourites Plymouth Phoenix have given up home advantage in the game against Premier Division challengers Kingsteignton Athletic, as their pitch at Devonport high school is not available.

The Plymouth outfit have yet to be beaten this season and this could be their biggest challenge against a well-drilled Kingsteignton side, who have a habit of doing well in this competition, The game has a 2pm kick off at Broadpark, Kingsteignton.

There is a mighty heavyweight clash in the Belli cup at Windmill Hill, where Waldon Athletic face a Buckfastleigh Rangers side trying to save their season from being free of silverware.

In the Premier Division, there is a six-pointer at Haye Road, where Elburton Villa 2nds meet Beesands Rovers, and a win for either team will make a difference come May.

In Division Three at Stoke Gabriel, there is the league version of the cup game from two weeks ago versus Drake FC. These two are 2nd and 3rd, and again, a win for either will put them three points clear of the other.

All other games can be found on the full-time website, enjoy your grassroots football.