Ottery St Mary were in fine form on Wednesday night when they travelled to Mid Devon to meet Exeter and District League Division Five side Bravehearts, who groundshare with Western League outfit Willand Rovers,

Corey Ringer (2) and Jordan Wilkinson (2) scored the Otters’ goals and manager Dave Fairweather was delighted with his team’s performance.

He said: “We played well. It was a good surface to play on and we moved the ball about well and scored some good goals. In terms of a pre-season run out, it was ideal!”

The same, perhaps, could not be said for the Otters’ trip to Bampton last Saturday, which was anything but ‘plain sailing’.

Fairweather explained saying: “We arrived at Bampton to find a reserve game in progress and had to share a dressing room with a Witheridge side that were playing one of the Bampton sides.

“It meant us getting changed and not being able to have a proper warm-up and, of course, with such an unsettling start to the afternoon, we never really got out of first gear in a first half against a Bampton side that are very good on their own pitch.”

He continued: “We improved dramatically after the break and were good value when we levelled things up, only to ship a late second which saw them [Bampton] take the game 2-1.”

That Ottery goal at Bampton was scored by Luke Jones, one of a number of new players at Ottery this pre-season.

Fairweather says of playing matters: “I am pleased with how the pre-season is going. There’s a really positive feel to all things on and off the pitch at the club.

“We did have a good pre-season last year, albeit until the last two friendly matches and then we started the season badly and that is something I am very keen to avoid this year.”

Fairweather is continuing to seek new players.

He says: “I am delighted with how our recruitment has gone this pre-season, but that does not mean we have a full squad – yet. I am always happy to hear from any prospective new players, though they really do need to be ‘Ottery type of players’ to come in and be part of what I think is something rather special here at Washbrook Meadow.”

The Otters will begin their Exeter and District League campaign on the final Saturday of the month (August 25) with an East Devon derby at home to Beer Albion Reserves and they have another local derby seven days later with a trip to Otterton (September 1).

Before then they also have a Bill Slee Cup final to fit into the pre-season schedule.

The original date was set to be Thursday, August 16, but it is likely that will now be played seven days later on August 23.

This Saturday (August 4) Ottery entertain Premier Division Upottery at Washbrook Meadow (3pm).

There’s also home action next Thursday (August 9) when the Ottery Under-18s play their first ever game with Topsham Town the visitors to Washbrook Meadow.

Fairweather says: “Between now and the first league game we still have four pre-season matches to fine tune things to make sure we hit the ground running on August 25.”