Home Defeat
DT Reserves 0 Halwill 2
Te Reserves came to this home game on the back of a good away win against Newtown, but for this game midfield stalwart and captain Neil Cleave was missing from the line up. this bought down the average age of the team to 18 which clearly shows that the Dawlish Town youth policy is starting to pay off. The game started with the usual frantic work by both teams, looking to gain the advantage, Dawlish battled away working hard with Marcus Pritchard stepping into the midfield role along side Lee Fenner.
After 20 minutes Sean Stoneman picked the ball from a cross by Liam Jones turned and with a cracking effort hit bar. The Dawlish team were working well down the left with James Spence and Liam Jones linking up well.With 40 minutes gone the Dawlish defence went to sleep, a ball crossed from the right went across the penalty area to be tapped in with ease by the Halwill forward, with the defence caught flat footed and rooted to the spot. The score stayed the same into the half time break.
The secod half started much as the first. Dawlish continued to push forward and pin Halwill back for the first 15 minutes. Forward Gary Hodgson came close with a back header which hit the bar. Sean Stoneman and Liam Jones came close with efforts from the edge of the box, but Dawlish could not break the duck. Halwill had a break forward and again the defence went to sleep, the first effort was blocked by a great save from keeper Niall Herbert but the rebound went straight to the forward who on the second atempt scored the second for Halwill. Dawlish did not let their heads drop and continued to find away through, but despite all their hard work could not pull the goals back and the game finished 2-0 to Halwill.
“The team played very well and did not deserve to lose,” commented team Manager Richard Woods, “Bearing in mind this is such a young team they played football and showed maturity beyond their years. Four of the reserve team players will be gaining further experience this week when they will be playing in the first team on Wednesday when Dawlish Town take on Plymouth at home at Sandy Lane with a 7.30 kick off.”
Immediately after the game, Chairman Dave Fenner accompained by the 3 amigo’s Craig, Lee and Alex Fenner sped off in a fast car to catch a flight to Geneva. The rumour on the grapevine is that it is to complete a deal to take over another football club. A club spokesman declined to confirm or deny the persistant rumours. It was later confirmed that they had just gone for a skiing holiday.