WE’VE not even reached November yet and Bovey Tracey AFC have already won both home and away against their local rivals Newton Abbot Spurs.

The pair went toe-to-toe at the Western Counties Roofing Ground last night (Oct 14) and Bovey seemingly had the game won after just 30 minutes.

A 10th win of the SW Peninsula League campaign for the Moorlanders sees them return to the summit, replacing Bridport FC in that top spot.

Spurs meanwhile, remain finely poised in third place but manager Connor Marshall admitted that this was a “tough defeat to take.”

It took 15 minutes for the home side to break the deadlock courtesy of Louis Roberts. With Kai Swann diving in, Lewis Perring exploited the space in behind and drove straight to the byline, pulling the ball across for Roberts to flick beyond Kane Gregory.

One swiftly became two and Roberts was the scorer once again. A Perring corner came swinging in and the midfielder, standing relatively unmarked, headed home for Bovey.

Ben Gerring’s side followed this up with a pair of close calls, Gregory palming one effort onto the bar and another dangerous Perring delivery striking the far post.

They showed no signs of letting up in the opening 30 minutes though and they had a third goal to show for it. Centre-back Ross Beer challenged for an aerial ball with Stuart Bowker and as the ball broke for the latter, he remained composed, stepped inside and rolled home his sixth goal of the season.

Gerring labelled the performance up to this point as “magnificent”, adding that, “After half an hour, that for me was the game done.”

Marshall made a similar assessment: “I think the boys knew that Bovey deserved the win from that first half. Second half, I said to play for pride really, you’ve got nothing to lose now at 3-0 down, it’s all about going out there and playing your way.”

At this point, it felt as if Bovey could go on and run up the score as they have done a few times already but instead, the fixture took on a very different complexion.

Besides a half-hearted penalty appeal against Finn Pearse, Bovey seemed to take their foot off the gas for the rest of the half.

In response, changes were made by both sides at the break. Bovey captain Cliff Walters was removed with Saturday’s FA Vase game in mind, Sam Rutter going on in his place. Marshall made a double switch for the visitors, sending on Brad Crocombe and Chris Harvey for Owen Raven and Swann.

Looking at the end of the first half and then the second 45 minutes, Gerring said: “We seemed to take a backwards step and that invites them on and everyone well knows, the next goal is crucial so whilst we said we didn’t need to go and chase it, we certainly didn’t want to give away territory like we did. Second half we didn’t lay a glove.”

Spurs were knocking on the door with both Toby Pullman and Owen Green going close and their persistence paid off.

Pearse sent a ball towards the corner for Harvey to chase and he was a willing runner. The winger scored on the weekend as Spurs advanced beyond Crediton United in the WCP League Cup, but he provided an assist this time around. He pulled it back to the edge of the area where Tom Lobb was waiting and although his initial effort was saved by Dom Aplin, the energetic midfielder was the first to respond, poking home the rebound.

A Spurs player then may well have denied his team a goal. Pearse, who also found the net on Saturday, heading a Green corner on target only for it to hit one of his teammates on the line.

The towering defender was involved yet again but at the other end with Bovey calling for him to be given his marching orders after coming together with sub Levi Landricombe, the ref instead opting for a yellow card.

Talking of reds and the final talking point, with just a minute or two left, saw the ref make his way over to the touchline and dismiss Gerring for something he said. The Bovey boss held up his hands on this: “That’s my fault, I put that down to inexperience. I was just frustrated with our performance so I’ll take that one on the chin.”

On the field though, Spurs’ surge forward fizzled out in the later stages of the game whilst Bovey were content to see out the result as it was.

Gerring wasn’t overly pleased with the conclusion, commenting: “We were very cheap and sloppy in possession and we had to grind it out. It should never have been like that.

“We’ve got an experienced group and we’ve all set the levels high so we should be managing games better than that.”

On the other hand, Marshall was left to reflect on a poor start and then a solid response from his side.

“It’s all about constructive criticism, taking it on board, so my players can get better.

“Credit to my boys though, they played for the badge, played for pride and played for me so I was happy with that [second half] and now we’ve got to build on it. Credit to Bovey too, they were brilliant and the damage was done in that first half, their experience showed and the physicality showed so fair play to them.”

Having won this fixture at The Rec in August, “Six points in any fixture is brilliant and it’s a little bit sweeter that it’s against Newton Spurs” in the eyes of Gerring. Equally though, they’re “looking to take six [points] off of every side they face” this year.

Moving forward now and Spurs have this weekend off whereas Bovey are in action on home soil once again. As previously mentioned, they have a Vase outing to look forward to with Western League Division One strugglers Radstock Town as their guests.

Bovey and Gerring are looking forward to it: “It’s a big occasion, it’s a competition we want to take seriously and do well in. It’s a home draw and I want more of that first half. If we turn up like we did in the first half, I’m sure we’ll give Radstock a really good game.”