Ottery St Mary snatched victory from the jaws of defeat as two goals inside the final five minutes of their Macron League Division Four meeting with Uplowman gave them all three points.

The Otters began sluggishly and the Mid Devon side took full advantage going into a deserved lead.

Ten minutes into the second half the Otters levelled things up, but then their Achilles heel – the fact that they do tend to ‘switch’ off at times in contests – once again came home to roost and they fell behind for a second time.

The Otters, who missed half-a-dozen clear cut chances in the contest, ought to have had the points sewn up long before the grandstand finish.

Tom Collins, Tom Bushby and Jake Allen were the Ottery goal scorers.

Otters boss Dave Fairweather said: “It was a game that we certainly deserved to win. I suspect that Uplowman will have gone away feeling that, because they shipped two late goals, they were worthy of something, but for out part we dominated large periods and, had we been sharper with our chances we’d have won comfortably.”

As to the reason behind the win, the Otters chief said: “We used the wide spaces of our home pitch well and, despite the heavy conditions, the surface held up well. We moved the ball sweetly and, had it not been for the season-long problem of ‘switching off’ at crucial times, we’d have been handsome winners.”

In terms of individual performances, Fairweather said: “Tom Bushby had by far his best game yet in an Otters short. He moved the ball cleverly and, from the right wing berth, never gave their right back a rest. He looked good either coming inside or taking his man on. Now we need to see consistency in performance from Tom.

“Jake Allen was another to give us a super show. He is such an intelligent footballer and gets the team going the right way both with his general attitude and of course his play. It was a shame that he got injured in the second half and so misses this weekend’s game.”

As for the importance of the win, Fairweather says: “It’s massive for it means, if we can win our remaining four games then I think that’d be good enough for a top four finish and that’s what we are looking to achieve.”