James Moxon’s penalty conversion sealed a return to winning ways for Newton Abbot Spurs on Tuesday night as they battled to a 2-1 win over Bovey Tracey.

Moxon’s spot kick added to the opener from Will Hancox and proved to be the winner as a brilliant solo effort from Cal Leech brought Bovey within one.

The opening exchanges suggested an evenly-matched affair was in the offing as both sides enjoyed periods of pressure. Only a handful of shots were fired towards goal in the first half, though, as both sides struggled to find the killer pass up front.

Spurs goalkeeper Joel Hawker-Patchett had more to do than his Bovonian counterparts in the opening period as Jacob Osborne fed Neil Last on 35 minutes, who struck a low effort that the stopper smothered comfortably.

Deadlock was broken 10 minutes after half-time as Hancox received the ball in space, 25 yards out, and let fly. The sweetly-struck effort appeared to move in the air and it caught Bovey ‘keeper Dom Aplin out as he moved across his line. Aplin got a strong hand to the ball but could not stop it from trickling across the line.

Spurs came agonisingly-close to doubling the advantage two minutes later. Owen Green beat the offside trap wide on the right and floated a teasing cross in for Moxon, who crashed his header off the upright with Aplin rooted to the spot.

Moxon netted the second of the night on 63 minutes. Substitute Nick Rudge carried the ball into the box from the right-hand side and was clumsily brought down by Lewis Perring as he drove to the byline. Moxon took responsibility for the subsequent spot kick and duly smashed it straight down the middle for his second goal of the campaign.

Not to be stymied by the setback, Bovey replied within four minutes. Leech gave chase to a ball over the top on the left flank and brought it down, cut inside and leathered home into the middle of the goal.

One final chance fell the way of Newton Spurs. Green carried the ball forward on the right as a rapid counterattack developed and got the better of the back-pedalling Si Laughton before firing a shot towards the top corner at the far post. Aplin produced a magnificent save and could smother the ball with relief after Hancox scuffed his rebound.

Upon full-time, Spurs boss Marc Revell said: ’I was relieved to get the three points off the back of Saturday[’s loss to Axminster Town].

‘It was far from convincing for us and I think we should be putting those games to bed a lot sooner. With the quality I’ve got in this squad versus a lot of teams in this league, we should be putting a lot games to bed by half-time.

‘We didn’t perform and came out second half, changed formation and the lads were much better and looked a lot more dangerous. But that game, if the officials had got all the decisions right, we would have won three-or-four-nil, and then I would have felt better about this conversation. I’m just happy to get three points, that’s what I can take from it; it’s a midweek game under lights and it’s another win.

‘We didn’t get ourselves going in the first half,’ Revell continued, ‘and as soon as Bovey sort of settled into the game a bit they got their tails up at the fact that we weren’t performing and we weren’t creating chances.

‘It looked like a bit of a dire game but second half we came out as I expected and as I had hoped we’d play from minute one and we showed the gulf in quality then.

One player that shone for Spurs - but perhaps went under the radar - was Nick Rudge. Former Buckland Athletic regular Rudge returned to first-team action recently and has hit the ground running.

‘Nick is unbelievable,’ Revell said. ‘The reason he hasn’t played more is that he went off the boil a little bit with fitness and had a baby, family life obviously and nick being so short gets easily affected by three or four weeks out of football because he just takes his foot off the pedal and it shows.

‘He sent himself down to the reserves and said: ‘look, until I’m fit I’m going to be a waste of time for you.’ He created a chance against Axminster and to see his footwork tonight, it just reminds me that he’s not finished.

‘He’s an asset, and id like to get him on the pitch for 90 minutes if his body could last and his lungs can last. He shouldn’t just be a secret weapon, I would like Nick Rudge to be fit and firing and starting every week.’

Bovey manager Will Small said: ‘The standard was there to a degree. We worked hard, we frustrated them and we stuck to the game plan well in the first half.

‘But again, Cliff [Walters] going off injured is a big loss. Ollie [Aplin] being injured is a loss, Andy Davis not being available is a loss and it’s just bad timing where that’s concerned.

‘I thought we deserved a point tonight, but it’s just one of those things again. If we cut out the mistakes – two silly, sloppy individual errors – we win the game 1-0.

‘We have gifted them both of their goals. They haven’t had to work hard for them or create any “magic”.

‘Dom [Aplin] will hold his hands up for the first one, it’s a mistake and those things happen. For the second one Lewis [Perring] should know better than to go to ground in the box.

‘If we cut out those mistakes we start winning games. At the moment we’re just making it too easy for our opponents by shooting ourselves in the foot.’