Honiton Under-14s were edged out when they made the short journey to Ottery St Mary for an Exeter and District Youth League game.

Despite the heavy Friday night rain, the Washbrook Meadows pitch was great condition and the surface contributed towards a fantastic game of football.

The first half saw Honiton play their best football for some time as they dominated possession with Max Salter and Matthew Ward prominent. However, despite creating good chances they were unable to break the deadlock with Caleb Freemantle especially unlucky on more than one occasion.

Honiton also need to be on their guard defensively, as the hosts pacy strikers posed a serious threat on the break, but neither team were able to find the opener and the half ended goalless.

The game followed a similar pattern after the break with further chances at both ends of the pitch.

The deadlock was finally broken when an Ottery player rifled a speculative shot that deceived Honiton glovesman Will Whitworth.

Honiton threw everything at the home side in search of what would have been a deserve equaliser. Freemantle was again a whisker away from netting, but the Ottery defence stood firm.

Honiton’s challenge going forward is to find consistency and carry this sort of performance throughout every game.