Ottery St Mary manager Dave Fairweather has had what is ‘the perfect week’ as he first saw his Ottery team net a clean-sheet success at home to Tedburn St Mary and then, on Tuesday, he became the proud father of a baby girl!

Saturday’s 4-0 win over Tedburn came about thanks to two goals from Tristan Courtney and singles from Corey Ringer and Jordan Wilkinson that saw the Otters to their first clean sheet success since a 15-0 January 19, win over Axmouth United.

The four goals scored also take Ottery to 88 goals from their 19 league games so far this season.

There was more good news for the Otters and their boss as they learnt of defeats to the two teams who, before kick-off, could still have overhauled them in the table! Exeter University 4ths went down 4-2 at home to East Budleigh while Lympstone lost 5-1 at Beer Albion Reserves. It all means that the Otters now sit top with 45 points, six more than second placed Sandford who have played three games more. University are now seven points shy of the Otters, but do have two games in hand while Lympstone are back in seventh, but they have played five games fewer than the Otters and are now 19 points shy of the Washbrook Meadow men.

Speaking after the win over Tedburn, Fairweather said: “While not at our best, we fully deserved to win and the pleasing thing for me was that we are now seeing the squad strength come to the fore.”

Tomorrow (Saturday), the Otters are in action in Exeter where they take on University in a game which, on paper at least, looks to be a ‘title decider’.

Typical of the level-headed Otters boss, though, he is doing his best to limit the pressure he puts on his team. He says: “An old cliché it may well be, but the bottom line is ‘it is just another game’ and the title will not be decided with the result of this one game. That said, it is an important one and I shall be championing the lads before the game to simply look to do what we do best. Focus on our game, not get drawn into anything we don’t want to be part of and – when the chances come along – be as clinical as we have been in recent games.”

With last Sunday’s scheduled Morrison Bell Cup tie postponed owing to the weather, the tie has been rescheduled for this Sunday, which means a ‘double-header’ for the Otters.

Fairweather says: “As important as Saturday is to us in terms of our league campaign, I also want us to do well on Sunday. In my mind cup runs are vital to the well-being of a football club and, while the league is our bread and butter, the Morrison Bell Cup is a trophy we are delighted and honoured to be in and we shall be going to Seaton looking to spring a surprise.”

Kick-off on Saturday at University is 3pm while the Sunday kick-off at Seaton Town is 2pm.