A FOUR-GOAL first half flurry helped Bovey Tracey to a 5-2 victory over Torridgeside as Peninsula Premier East action returned to Mill Marsh Park for the first time in 95 days.
Neil Last’s pair of well-taken finishes were joined by efforts from skipper Cliff Walters and Ollie Aplin as the hosts went in at the break with a commanding lead.
Cal Leech found a fifth just after the hour before George Folland and Rory Paine hit back for the travelling side.
Bovey showed no signs of rust early on and were ahead inside two minutes when Last pounced on an under-hit defensive pass and curled neatly past visiting keeper Elijah Clarke.
Three minutes later the home side doubled their lead – Lewis Perring’s corner finding Walters totally unmarked to head home at the near post.
It was another corner which led to the third goal after quarter of an hour, Aplin this time on hand to chest Perring’s delivery in from practically on the goal line.
Shaun Copp’s dipping strike flew just wide of Dom Aplin’s near post as Torridgeside showed a first glimpse of their capability.
But it would be Bovey who struck next to extend their lead further as two goalscorers combined well on 22 minutes.
Aplin received the ball from Last who continued his run to latch back onto his teammate’s through ball and coolly slot past Clarke.
Visitors pull two goals back
Striker Aplin was also involved in his side’s fifth with 65 minutes gone, sliding a deft delivery through for Leech to apply the slightest of touches.
Tside pulled one back with just under 20 minutes to go when some pinball in the Bovey box gave Folland the time to turn and lash into the roof of Aplin’s net.
And they would add another consolation moments later when Walters gave away a penalty, which was dispatched convincingly into the corner by Paine to round-off the scoring.
Saturday’s victory was the first time the Moorlanders had played a home league game since their 3-1 victory over Brixham way back on October 19, 2022.
‘It’s been a long time!’ said Bovey Tracey manager Will Small at full-time. ‘Getting three points was the main thing today, along with getting minutes back into everyone’s legs.
‘We’ve managed to accomplish both of those things and played some good stuff before half-time. ‘The second half was a bit of a non-entity from our point of view but there are lessons to be learned. I say it every week, you cannot switch off in this league. If you do switch off you get punished, and we’ve done it twice today.
‘We’ve come away with the three points but everyone is a little bit disappointed with how the second half has panned out.’
‘I couldn’t have asked for more’
And he added: ‘For the first half an hour I couldn’t have asked for more. The lads carried out the game plan to perfection – we pressed, won the ball back and were deadly when we had the ball.
‘At 4-0 up you’re wondering whether we can push on, but Torridgeside changed their shape to be more compact and then it’s hard for us to go out and do the same again after half-time.
‘We also made five changes in the second half to make sure everybody got plenty of minutes, so that will have had an effect.’
One of those substitutions saw experienced midfielder Dan Griffiths come on to make his Bovey bow following a move from fellow Peninsula League side Dartmouth.
Small explained: ‘I’ve been trying to tempt Griff to the club since the first time I was manager here and it didn’t quite work out.
‘This time around the chance arose to sign him and you’re not going to turn down a player of his quality and experience.
‘A lot of the lads already know him and he’s great in the changing rooms. He came on for a solid half an hour, and considering he hadn’t played for 12 weeks it was good to get him out there.
‘He had some good touches and set a few things up. He’s going to be a crucial player for us in the run-in now.’
With plenty of games-in-hand for Bovey to negotiate, attentions turn first to their trip to Sidmouth Town this Saturday (3pm).
‘Sidmouth is a hard place to go and not an easy pitch to play on,’ said Small. ‘They’re a good side – I think they’re in a bit of a false position in the league – and we’ve got to be bang on it for 90 minutes to get a result. We can’t afford to switch off like we did today.’