Ottery St Mary ladies were beaten in their Cup semi-final at Buckland Athletic last Sunday where they went down 6-2, but while that final score suggests a comfortable win for the hosts, it was certainly anything but that.

Otterettes boss Mikey Ringer says: "Even now, a week on, I am still shaking my head in disbelief that the game actually went ahead.

"When we arrived for the game and 'squelched' our way onto the pitch it quickly became apparent that any action that took place would be of the 'lottery' type.

"That said, our team, to a player, were magnificent. Given that we had not played since the start of December, the 12 who turned out for us on the day did us proud."

The Otterettes led 2-1 as the game ran its course to half-time, but then the home side got lucky as a long through ball, quite literally, got stuck in the mud, allowing a home player the easiest of tasks to net and send the teams into the break all square at 2-2.

As the second half began, the playing surface resembled a mud bath, but the Otterettes continue to give as good as they got as play switched from end to end.

Ringer says: "I felt for our team who continued to seek to play the game the 'right' way, but on that surface anything like a normal passing game was impossible. I'd liken it to playing 5-aside in an arena full of treacle! That said, full credit to them [Buckland] for they played their pitch well. They scored a couple of goals which meant, with 10 minutes to go, we had to throw tired bodies forward and were caught a couple of times more for them to seal the win.

"So bad were the conditions that we actually suffered a couple of players losing their boots in the mud!"

The Otterettes boss added: "To underline just how much our girls put into the contest was the fact they were all still aching all over from their efforts a couple of days after the cup tie."

On Sunday (February 9) the Otterettes return to Devon Women's League Premier Division action when they host basement side Signal Box Oak Villa (2pm).

Team manager Mikey Ringer says: "It'll be good to get the team playing again on a decent surface and I am very hopeful that we will draw another good crowd to come along and support the team."