Herald Cup

Beesands Rovers 1,

Dartmouth AFC seconds 3

Beesands resources were stretched and with a bare 11 initially, including injured players, this match was always a tall order. The only positive of the day was an excellent playing surface, courtesy of groundsman Terry Patey.

Dartmouth attacked from the kick-off, forcing T J Lang into a timely clearance. A follow-up attack resulted in ‘keeper Toby Harvey coming out and bravely saving at the feet of the oncoming attacker.

Bees replied with a long-range effort from Al Browne that went wide.

The Bees were faring well in the early stages of the contest despite the end-to-end play.

Neat play between Luke Broad and Elliot Bellamy saw the youngster beat his man and cross for Lee Mor­gan, who saw a shout for a penalty turned down.

Against the odds Beesands were putting in a spirited performance, with Lee Morgan twice pressurising defenders into mistakes and hasty clearances.

Dartmouth, however, did go ahead when they attacked and gained a penalty which, despite Toby Harvey getting his hands to it, was scored for the visitors to take a 0-1 lead.

With play continuing to be end to end, Lang was tackled heavily in an incident that saw his opponent penalised and was forced from the field.

With no substitutes Beesands were forced to see out the remaining five minutes of the half with 10 men.

A Dartmouth attack produced the best move of the match, with an opponent jockeying around and across a number of Bees players before unleashing an unstoppable shot into the top left-hand side of the goal for 0-2.

Against 10 men Dart­mouth sensed opportunities and the remainder of the half was akin to the Alamo, with Beesands defending stoutly. Browne had dropped back into defence to cover the hole left by Lang and with Bromfield stood firm.

For the second half an injured Dave Har­vey turned out.

An early good effort from Broad was unfortunately wide before a Dart­mouth ball between two Bees players put a Dart forward through on goal, but Will Garner managed to get a toe on it and put it wide of the ‘keeper and then out for a throw.

Dave Harvey battled forward, but his shot was blocked and cleared. Soon after a Dart attack was thwarted by a great block tackle from Broad.

The crucial incident came when Morgan was fouled in the area and earned a penalty only to see his effort saved by the ‘keeper.

It was more backs to the wall defending for Bees but they stuck to their guns admirably and even had chances of their own. A beautifully flighted free kick from Garner found Morgan, who was fouled in the area and this time he drilled the penalty home for 1-2.

A potential equaliser was agonisingly close when, from just inside the Darts half, Browne drilled a free kick to the edge of the area and Thiele shot goalwards, only to see it loop up and bounce off the bar.

Straight away play went up the other end of the pitch as Dart broke away and took it past ‘keeper Harvey for 1-3.

The Bees plugged away trying to reduce the deficit. While understrength, their commitment could not be faulted.

Tom Harvey battled twice to retain the ball before clearing and, similarly, Broad continued battling until the final whistle. Luke Broad was Beesands’ man of the match.

Tomorrow Beesands have a Fire­watch Dev­on Senior Cup fixture away to Paignton Saints, kick-off 2pm. All are welcome to come and support.