KELSON Pollard’s second-half double bumped Bovey Tracey to a 4-2 win over local rivals Newton Abbot Spurs on Monday.

Pollard joined Lewis Perring and Neil Last on the score sheet, while Owen Green and James Moxon found the net for the visiting Spurs.

‘We’ve beaten them at last,’ said Bovey boss Will Small. ‘It’s been 2-1 the last three times we’ve played them and each time we’ve been done by a late goal. I thought on the counter we were ruthless and much, much better than Saturday [3-0 defeat to Crediton United].

‘It was the perfect game to turn things around. It’s been a bit like that this season; we’ve had a bad result, then we’ve got a good result, then we’ve had a bad one, so it’s a mixed bag but it’s always nice to get one over your local rivals and we want to finish above them in the table.’

It took only three minutes for marauding left-back Perring to give Bovey the lead. Ever-threatening winger Pollard danced his way around several challenges on the edge of the penalty area before being brought to ground. Perring stepped up to the 20-yard free-kick and drilled a low strike below the jumping wall and into the bottom-right corner.

But Spurs reacted well to the setback and looked very dangerous in attack. They were rewarded on 24 minutes when Tom Sercombe split a lopsided defence with a searching ball on the right flank. Midfielder Gavin Collins latched onto the pass and hooked a clever ball back for Green, awaiting in the centre of the box, to roll home the equaliser.

‘Owen [Green] was absolutely class,’ said Spurs boss Marc Revell. ‘He’s earned himself a start on Wednesday. He was the only one that has really put himself in good stead from today’s performance to deserve a start. 

‘He knew a place on the team was there for the taking and he had a great game; I thought he was brilliant.’

Minutes later, Green came agonisingly close to netting a second. Smart footwork had retreating centre-back Simon Laughton tied up and was able to get his shot away. Dom Aplin produced a fine save to tip the ball onto the woodwork but saw the rebound fall to Harry Ford, whose first-time effort also bruised the crossbar.

Down the other end, Cal Leech was nodded in on goal by Ollie Aplin but showed too much of the ball to goalkeeper Joel Patchett, who did well to disrupt the opportunity and pounce on the ball to thwart it entirely.

Bovey went into the half-time interval with their tails up thanks to a devastating combination of their full-backs. Perring, again bringing the ball forward on the left flank, whipped a spellbinding ball in for Last to volley home a clever waist-high finish.

‘I am going to dwell, surprisingly,’ said Revell. ‘I freshened it up today to rest lads for Wednesday but I got a better performance and reaction out of my regular non-starters. I’m dwelling on it because the players I added to the mix after half-time should’ve improved things but didn’t.

‘I had a word with them at half-time about how easily they scored their second because we dominated the game, had chance after chance and didn’t take them. I still was confident about winning, even at 2-1 down because I thought Bovey had only had a couple chances.’

Just past the hour-mark, Spurs thought they had pulled level when Moxon was slipped through on goal by a slide-rule pass. The striker tucked his effort underneath goalkeeper Aplin but celebrations were cut short by the offside flag.

Bovey put some daylight between themselves and their guests 15 minutes from time when Pollard  tucked home from close range off a pass from Ollie Aplin.

But Newton were not going to ease off, and they halved the deficit as regulation time came to an end when a free-kick was sent into the back post for Moxon to convert a stooping header.

The Moorlanders restored the two-goal cushion with one of the final kicks of the match. Spurs goalkeeper Patchett abandoned his line to chase a loose ball but was beaten to it and could not scramble back to goal quick enough as Pollard curled his second past the displaced custodian.

‘Kelson was a bit head-down on Saturday and a bit disappointed that he hasn’t scored for a couple of games after the start he made,’ admitted Small. ‘I told him to stick at it because I believed he would score today and cause them all sorts of trouble and he did. He listened and did what was asked of him; very good.’