Beer Reserves took on Alphington 3rds but there was to be no repeat of the opening day joy for Beer when these two sides last met, with the fishermen going down 2-1 writes Simon Smith.

Beer deserved more out of this game than they got, dominating possession and chances in the first half, and were unlucky not to be awarded for a penalty after young Ross Broom was caught late by a dangerously swung arm. However although the referee saw the incident and booked the offender, he strangely awarded a drop ball in the area. This was not the last bit of luck the hosts were given, both Alphington centre backs were fortunate to stay on the field after a string of crude, untimely and sometimes dangerous attempts to halt Beer’s build up play. Nathan Newbury had a brilliant free kick saved by Alphington’s man of the match keeper and several other efforts were thwarted. The Beer defence had very little to startle them and restricted the home side to hopeful long distance efforts. As the second half began the belief was visibly returning to Alphington and they started to capitalise on their good fortune, posing a greater threat to a previously untroubled back four. The nature of their opening goal came as no surprise, with a scrappy build up and a simple tap in, then another after centre back Josh Moughton had received a match ending injury leaving enough space for the home team to make it 2-0. Beer continued to toil away and got some reward when Jack White scored from some 40 yards, directly from a freekick. This changed the momentum of the game again and the last ten minutes were littered with opportunities to equalise, but it was not to be.

On Saturday the Reserves travel to Winkleigh for a Football Express Cup second round tie.