Ottery St Mary returned to winning ways as they won their second successive East Devon derby, winning 4-3 at Budleigh Salterton Reserves, writes SpursTom.

Sidmouth Herald: Ottery 1st team away at Budleigh 2nds. Ref shsp 09 19TI 1000958. Picture: Terry IfeOttery 1st team away at Budleigh 2nds. Ref shsp 09 19TI 1000958. Picture: Terry Ife (Image: Archant)

A week after they lost their highly impressive winning run – one that stretched back 12 games – after losing 3-2 at Beer Albion, the Otters were involved in a compelling encounter at Greenway Lane.

In a bright opening, both teams showed real attacking intent and there were a number of ‘robust’ challenges, but referee Jason Hawkins dealt with it all very well throughout the match.

The home side struck first with Mark Tett firing Budleigh into a 20th minute lead. However, Ottery needed just five minutes to restore parity with leading scorer Corey Ringer netting.

It was Ringer who struck again, shaking off three challenges before scoring the goal that gave his side a 2-1 interval lead.

The start of the second period saw the end-to-end nature of the action continue – and was also full of the sort of commitment you’d expect from a local derby.

On 51 minutes we had a situation all keepers dread, a back pass into the hosts’ area; keeper Simon Savage got to it first, but, unfortunately, his attempted clearance smashed into the onrushing attacker Curtis Winchcombe and into the empty net for Ottery to take a 3-1 lead.

To give Budleigh their due, they continued competing and shocked Ottery with two goals in quick succession, netting through Mark Tett on 72 minutes and then, two minutes later, through a Colin Dougal penalty.

Ottery knew they needed to dig deep into their resources to obtain all three points, but the Robins also had the bit between their teeth and felt they could go on and cause an upset.

End-to-end football followed, and, with the game into its final four minutes, the Otters launched an attack that ended with substitute Tristan Courtney rifling home the winning goal.

It was certainly tough on Budleigh, but overall, on the day, the visitors were that extra bit better.

Budleigh: Simon Savage, Achref Ghanmi, Jordan Bennington, James Leaper, Liam Dickinson, Gareth Davies, Sam Glanvill-Ford, Colin Dougal, Elliot Mann, Harry Gibbings, Mark Tett, Gareth Morrey, Guy Laverock and unused substitute Tom Christian.

Ottery: Jamie Evans, Aidan Davey, Ben Rushton, Curtis Winchcombe, Johnny De Cruz, Tom Badcott, Jordan Wilkinson, Mat Daly, Corey Ringer, Chris Ambrose, Dan Welch, Tristan Courtney, Connor Lovering and Dave Weeks.

Macron League Division Three (top 7)

Division Three P W D L F A Pts

Ottery St Mary 18 14 0 4 84 30 42

University of Exeter 16 12 2 2 73 21 38

Sandford 21 12 0 9 87 51 36

East Budleigh 18 12 0 6 53 40 36

Winchester 17 11 2 4 55 36 35

Newton St Cyres 18 9 3 6 49 43 30

Lympstone 13 8 2 3 37 19 26