The curtain comes down on the Ottery St Mary season on Thursday night when they contest the final of the Golesworthy Cup against Offwell Rangers at Washbrook Meadow, Ottery (7pm), writes Steve Birley.

The much coveted Fresha League Division Five finish did not materialise as they ended up in fifth place, just four points behind Kentisbeare, who did take the third of the three promotion places up for grabs.

The league campaign saw the Otters have no difficulty in scoring goals – just twice across the entire campaign in league and cup did they fail to score.

At Starcross on February 27, they failed to net in a game for the first time in the season and then, crucially, in a contest that ultimatley determined their end of season placing, they failed to score when beaten 6-0 at Kentisbeare on May 11.

The problem for the Otters was keeping clean sheets, something they achieved just four times in 32 league and cup ties.

They had shut-outs at home to Sandford in October, Beer in January, Halwill in February and Alphington in April. However, they did not manage a single clean sheet on their travels.

To be fair to manager Dave Fairweather, he was often left scratching around for a team in the days leading up to matches and was rarely able to field the same side on consecutive match days.