Beer Albion Reserves kicked off the new year with an 8-2 win against visitors Winkleigh in a Macron Devon and Exeter League Division Four match, writes Richard Honnor.

The Fishermen dominated a one-sided contest and but for some fine saves by the Winkleigh keeper and some glaring misses Beer’s tally would have been well into double figures.

The Fishermen started strongly and were two up inside the first 10 minutes.

Striker Taylor Rooke opened the scoring on two minutes with a clinical finish after a Nathan Newbery assist.

Then, on 10 minutes, the Fishermen went 2-0 ahead when they sliced through the Winkleigh defence with an incisive passing move down the left channel. Ollie Paget’s pinpoint pass across the six-yard line was finished off by Newbery.

During the next 30 minutes, Beer completely dominated proceedings, but failed - through over-elaborate play - to convert their superiority into more goals.

Just as Winkleigh thought that they had contained the deficit to only two goals going into the break, the Fishermen struck twice more to open up a 4-goal lead.

On 42 minutes, in almost a repeat of the second goal, Beer moved the ball with purpose down the left and Ollie Paget got on the end of a square ball to score from six yards out. Then on the stroke of half-time, Billy Long made it 4-0 with another close range effort.

In the corresponding fixture at the start of this season, Winkleigh had come from 4-2 behind to defeat the Fishermen 7-4 and when they hit the post in the 47th minute of this game, the visitors must have briefly thought that they could stage another amazing comeback. But their hopes were soon dashed when Beer scored their fifth goal on 56 minutes through a Billy Long free kick from 25 yards which the Winkleigh keeper could only help into the net.

Three minutes later, Beer were awarded another free-kick in an identical position and this time Long cleverly chipped the ball forward to Paget, whose shot was well parried by the keeper, but the alert Rooke was on hand to tap in from close range for his second goal and Beer’s sixth.

On 70 minutes, Beer went 7-0 ahead when Billy Long found himself in space in the inside right channel and completed his hat-trick with a clean strike.

The Fishermen then gifted a couple of goals to their plucky visitors. First on 72 minutes, when a casual clearance from keeper Bartlett was punished by midfielder Owen Darch, who scored from 20 yards into an open goal.

Then, on 78 minutes, the hard-working Darch struck an unstoppable penalty to reduce the deficit to 7-2 after Bartlett had brought down Winkleigh’s Adam Bullen just inside the penalty box.

The Fishermen completed the rout on 80 minutes when centre back Robert Adkin came forward in support of another Beer attack and scored from close range.

There were some strong performances, particularly from Beer’s younger players, and centre back Liam Cox was named the Man of the Match by sponsors Colebrooke House Guest House, Beer.

This Saturday (January 13) Beer Albion welcome Seaton Town to the Furzebrake for a Devon and Exeter League Premier Division match. Kick off is at 2:15pm and a large crowd is expected for this East Devon derby, which is being sponsored by local skittles team, the Colcombe Beerboys.

Meanwhile, in Division Four, Beer Reserves will be hoping to improve on their poor away record when they travel to Feniton.