Exwick Villa Vets 3 - 1 Elburton Villa Vets - Devon Veterans Cup Final 2018
Torbay Financial Services Devon Veterans Cup Final
Exwick Villa Veterans 3- 1 Elburton Villa Veterans
4/5/2018
On Friday 4th May, it was the battle of West vs East in the Torbay Financial Services Devon Veterans Cup, as Exwick Villa Veterans from Exeter faced Elburton Villa Veterans from Plymouth.
Referee Chris Evans who had swapped places with Ryan Brown who picked up a slight injury in the warm up got the game started.
The first serious chance of the match feel to Elburton, winning a corner kick in the second minute Chris Kiely crossed a wicked ball into the area only for Kevin Hill to clear.
Exwick were exuding confidence and were looking to play the ball on the ground, however the Elburton defence were standing strong.
In the 14th minute Exwick Villa take the lead after an excellent passing move when the ball was crossed to David Wilkes, who headed the ball into the bottom corner of the Elburton goal.
Elburton restarted the match looking to get on even terms but the Exwick defence were standing strong and looked like they could absorb anything Elburton could throw at them.
Another chance fell Exwick Villa’s way in the twenty-seventh minute, when Elberton’s Justin Crowley cleared the ball but unfortunately for him it hit the legs of Scott Rogers and the ball flew back over just clearing the bar, a lucky escape for Elburton.
Elburton started to have more possession but couldn’t break the Exwick defence down.
With the interval looming, Exwick doubled their score when the superb Scott Rogers side footing the ball past keeper Mark Easterbrook giving him no chance.
Half time came with no further score leaving Exwick leading two goals to nil.
The second half began with Elburton looking up for the challenge and is led by the excellent Crowley who looked the favourite if anybody was to get Elburton back into the game.
The match had fallen into a bit of a lull but in the seventy-first minute Exwick’ s Lee Atkins nearly scored a very audacious attempt when he tried to chip Easterbrook from twenty-five yard just failing when the ball clipped the cross bar.
Elburton kicked on and linked a series of passes together only for the ball to cleared again, some of the players were beginning to look tired and the match was looking stretched.
Elburton got their reward in the seventy-eighth minute with Lee Johnson connecting with a deft flick from a corner making it 2-1.
Exwick looked to hit back and stepped up the pressure and with Hill now playing up front and using his experience playing a series of one-twos with Rogers, only for Easterbrook to pull off a superb double save and receiving a great cheer and a round of applause from the crowd.
Easterbrook repeated the same again when this time he saved two shots on goal from Kevin Hill and Ronchetti.
The fourth official indicated a minimum of three added minutes and in the first of these added minutes Exwick cleared a ball down the line and on the counter attack it was Ronchetti who ensured his side were home and dry as the ball fell to Ronchetti, all he had to do was place the ball accurately into the bottom corner.
Referee Evans blew the final whistle, seeing Exwick Villa Veterans win the Torbay Financial Services Devon Veterans Cup.
At the presentations it was announced that Elburton Villa Veterans Goalkeeper Mark Easterbrook was the Man of the Match.
The next game at Coach Road will be the Sportslighting Devon U13 Girls County Cup Final between Budleigh Salterton Youth and Ivybridge Town Youth – KO 7:15pm – Gates opening at 6pm.