Ottery St Mary were beaten 2-0 by visiting Feniton in the inaugural Ottery Challenge Cup.

Despite the defeat, Otters boss Dave Fairweather had much to be pleased about from his side’s 90-minute performance against one of the Macron League top Premier Division sides.

Fairweather said: “We began sluggishly and, for 10 minutes or so, I was concerned.

“Our poor start was not a surprise for I thought we had a terrible warm-up.

“That said, I think the players realised that they needed to improve to be competitive against quality opposition and, once they settled into the contest, I thought they matched Feniton in all areas.”

He continued: “It was not until the 72nd minute that we fell behind and they got their second in the closing minutes of the game.

“There was much for us to be pleased with, the key thing undoubtedly being the players seeing, for themselves, that no matter how good the opposition, if you press hard - and high up the pitch - you will always make life difficult for the other team.”

As for individual stand-out performances, one name came quickly to mind for the Otters chief, who said: “Curtis [Winchombe] again looked very comfortable in that all-important role of sitting in front of the central defenders.”

Ottery have another pre-season match next Thursday (August 17) when they host Exwick Village (7pm).

That frees up Saturday afternoon for a training session and that is something the Ottery boss advocates.

He says; “I feel we get so much more constructive work done on a Saturday afternoon training session when the players are so much fresher than say, for a midweek evening session when they have all done a day’s work and are not at their best in terms of energy levels.”