Newton Poppleford 1, Alphington 4 This game was marred by a serious injury to Alphington player Luke Osman, who suffered a broken leg just before half-time following an accidental collision, writes Ken Woodsford.

Newton Poppleford started well and a headed flick-on from Aston Puckey found Mark Tett who outpaced two Alphas defenders before slotting the ball home.

The visitors scored a soft equalizer when Osman was allowed to run past three defenders before firing in from twelve yards.

Slack marking at the far post from a corner kick gifted Alphington a second goal in the 31st minute.

The popples responded well and a 25-yard effort from Gary Dixon brought the best out of the Alphas keeper.

Minutes before the half-time whistle striker Osman was injured in a fifty-fifty challenge with the home keeper that resulted in an ambulance being called and the unfortunate Alphington player taken off to hospital. A red card, which appeared very harsh, was issued and replacement gloves man Leigh Adey’s first task was to recover the ball for the net having been beaten by Karl Greenham’s spot kick!

After the break the 10-man home side produced a tremendous battling display during which they created three of four very good chances to score further goals.

Steve West was denied by a superb save, but typical of the ay things are going for the popples, the next attack at the opposite end saw the visitors bag a fourth courtesy of a deflection.

Just before the end the popples defender Jamie Vittles sent a thundering clearance towards Cornwall! In a complete fluke, the ball hit two distant overhead power cables, which bounced against each other.

The resulting pyrotechnics provided the best fireworks display seen since the millenium, and required a call out to Western Power to switch on the affected households who had been rendered powerless.

Gary Dixon, Matt Tett and in the second half Leigh Adey all gave outstanding displays.

Manager Cliff Cooper was very proud of his players commitment and spirit, he

Said: “We are bottom of the league and at the moment and probably deserve to be there. However, the improvement in our performances each week has been most heartening. We are not getting the rub of the green at the moment, and this goes with the territory when you are down at the bottom. Alex’s (Bowring) challenge did not even look like a foul, and it was only when

the referee saw the injury that he reacted and sent him off, for what we felt was a complete accident. Everyone at Newton Poppleford send our best wishes to Luke (Osman). We hope that he makes a full and speedy recovery, and is back playing again in the not too distant future.”

Tomorrow the popples entertain Tipton St John.