Beer Albion chalked up their third Devon and Exeter Premier league win of the season by beating Hatherleigh Town 3-1 at the Furzebrake on Saturday writes Richard Honnor.

After heavy opening defeats against pace-setters Exmouth Town and Elmore, the Fishermen have strung together a decent run and are now unbeaten in five matches.

The visitors are struggling for players this season and remain pointless; they gave a good account of themselves playing neat possession football, but they lacked a goal threat and young Beer keeper Henry Bartlett was rarely tested. By contrast the Fishermen often relied on long balls through the channels and though not so pleasing on the eye they created far more scoring opportunities. Hatherleigh can thank their excellent keeper Penberthy for keeping them in the contest.

Beer had a great chance to go ahead in the very first when they were awarded a penalty after striker Chris Long was brought down. But Simon Smith’s weak spot kick was well anticipated by Penberthy. But Hatherleigh did start brightly and almost took the lead when their tricky winger cut inside and Bartlett could only watch and hope a 25 harder which smashed against the keeper’s crossbar. As Town pushed forward Beer’s George Harwood cleared off of his line on 12 minutes. The Fishermen began to settle down and took the lead against the run of play on 15 minutes when their outstanding midfielder John Cooper headed home after Town failed to deal with Harwood’s free kick. Richard Walker and Chris Long both went close, getting on the end of long balls. But it wasn’t pretty on the eye and Beer were often guilty of relying on the long game rather than playing the simple ball to feet.

After a Hatherleigh midfielder was sin-binned for dissent on 32 minutes and Beer took full advantage with a spectacular goal on 36 minutes. Centre-back Andrew Foster picked up a loose ball on half way, carried the ball forward as Hatherleigh backed off and then hit an unstoppable strike from 30 yards.

After the break, Hatherleigh dominated the possession for significant periods but the Beer back line defended well. Foster made a crucial goal line clearance on 78 minutes and the Fishermen went 3-0 up on 86 minutes when Harwood found Long with a quickly-taken cross-field free kick. Long took the ball in his stride and half-volleyed home from an acute angle. Plucky Town were not finished, however, and scored a deserved consolation on 90 minutes.

Match Sponsor East Devon Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic of Sidford Devon awarded Man-of-the-match to Beer’s hard-working midfielder John Cooper whilst, for Hatherleigh, keeper Penberthy was outstanding.

Next Saturday, September 30, Beer 1sts are at home to Feniton. Kick off is at 3 pm at the Furzebrake and match sponsor is Beer Fish Shop. Meanwhile, Beer Reserves, who opened their Division 3 account last Saturday with a 4-1 victory at Alphington, are on the road again for a league match at North Tawton.