1st Team Vs Tavistock

North Devon 11 – 1 Tavistock

North Devon picked up their first win of 2020 with an absolute demolition of 10 man Tavistock, which involved nine goals shared between strike partners Ash Thorne and David Orr. The reds came in to the game on a run of three consecutive defeats, but had been positive in the buildup to this game with their attitude and commitment. The first few minutes set the pattern for the game, with North Devon having almost all of the ball and Tavistock looking to aerials for some respite. Early chances came and went for Orr, having been picked out with a drilled pass from Jay Corden only to see the resulting effort fly out of bounds. The reds continued to press, with Sam Kirkness and Joe Hastie showing excellent tenacity in midfield and Giles Rowden and Phil Brand combining well down the right, it was only a matter of time before the deadlock was broken. Indeed it was verteran Rowden stealing in at the back post after some excellent build up play to apply the finish to a slick move, that was the opening of the floodgates. Thorne then found his goalscoring touch, with finishes at the back post, a fantastic reverse touch from a Ben Andrews howitzer, and another hard strike past the keeper. With Jay Corden also netting before the half time break with a powerful near post flick, the reds were in total control.

Having had a rough start to the year it was important that North Devon continued to apply the pressure and gain some momentum for the rest of the season, so the reds regrouped and went out again with the desire to continue playing good quality hockey. Orr decided then to join the fun, squeezing an effort between the keepers legs and adding a couple of other composed finishes to continue the scoring.  Despite being a spectator throughout, keeper Sam Wormington still had to be alert to make an excellent save on a rare Tavistock break. Normal service did then resume, with Thorne adding his fourth, a fortuitous strike that the Tavistock defenders generously helped over the line, and with the game sewn up the intensity naturally dropped, and Tavistock scored with a rare effort on target, courtesy of a lucky break after a good tackle from Matt Brown. There was still time for Thorne to add his fifth, which was a delightful finish in front of the keeper which flew into the roof of the net. All in all an excellent afternoon for North Devon, who will look to carry this positivity into next week against bottom of the league PGSOB down in Plymouth.