Side starts to settle

Ottery St Mary manager Dane Bunney believes his fledgling side is finally starting to gel.

He said at the start of the season that the players could expect it to take around 10 games before they started to get their act together as a team.

And it seems that they have now hit a good run of form after an up-and-down start to the term.

Bunney said: “Every time we got a good result, we crashed and burned next time but, on Saturday, we probably put in our worst performance since being smashed 7-0 by Liverton, and won.

“We have good enough players to beat anyone in the league. I have changed the formation now from pre-season to one that suits us much better and our aim is for a top five place at Christmas.

“I just want us to tick over quietly behind the front runners.”

Simon Parnell was the man in form against Crediton.

He scored a hat-trick, earning Man of the Match honours. Two of his goals were scored before half time, one after and Ottery were 2-0 up at the break.

Bunney felt that his side didn’t really get out of first gear but they restricted Crediton to only one first half chance in the first half.

And they were only able to score with a long-range effort in the second half, their shot going in from outside the box.

Darryl Johnstone at centre half put in a solid performance and was only pipped for Man of the Match by Parnell’s hat-trick.

This Saturday Ottery, who currently lie seventh in the Peninsula League East table, take on Exeter University away.

The university students are a always a difficult team to judge but Bunney is confident that his Washbrook Meadow squad are now more than a match for any team in the league.