By Andy Cobbold

Beer 1sts 4, Topsham 1sts 0

After a long pre-season and league delay, Beer Albion 1sts finally took to the field for their first game of the season.

After an extraordinarily successful season, The Fishermen were promoted into the North and West Devon Football League - a tough challenge for the team but one the players are relishing.

The preparation was not ideal as Beer had eight potential first team players all unavailable, but they signed a number of quality players in the summer which enabled to put out a strong squad.

Two of the new signings, Cody Bowditch and Daley Holmes, were both in the matchday squad.

The opening minutes of the game were very scrappy as neither team were trying to play any football, but Beer were having more of the ball in the opposition half, helped by the strong wind.

With only five minutes on the clock Beer opened the scoring. A free-kick out wide near the halfway line was awarded,. Cody Bowditch lined up his options before swinging in a great cross. Topsham tried to deploy their offside trap but that failed thanks to a perfectly timed run from Josh French, who beat the offside trap and at full stretch he volleyed the ball past the helpless keeper. 

The home team's great start got better two minutes later when in the seventh minute Beer doubled their lead. This time the two wide strikers linked up superbly to pull the Topsham defence apart. 

A great ball was played into the channel for Giles Basson to run onto. Giles struck the ball early into the area where Taylor Rooke showed great desire to get in front of the defender to strike the ball home, again giving the keeper no chance. 

With five minutes of the first half remaining Beer got their third of the game. Tony Pinder, who had just moved from midfield to right sided striker, made an excellent run across the Tops' defender and into the area. As Pinder jumped to chest the ball down the defender clumsily went straight through the back of him resulting in a penalty.

Pinder took the penalty himself and confidently struck the ball into the corner. 

The first half finished with Beer leading 3-0.

Despite being in the lead Beer were not particularly happy with the way they were playing; they are usually much better with the ball and more confident in possession.

The wind eased off a bit in the second half which made the game much better to watch for both the managers and spectators.

Defensively Beer were more controlled in the second half. Liam Cox and Joe Adkin comfortably dealt with their striker. George Harwood and Bowditch were seeing plenty of the ball which they both used very well. 

Beer keeper's kicking was again excellent, and he constantly turned defence into controlled attack. 

Although there was not a lot of quality football on show, Beer were still on top in the game. With Charley Skilton, Kyle Gould, and Taylor Rooke now in midfield, they were able to dictate the midfield battle.

Beer had a number of chances throughout the second half but unfortunately for the home side the Tops keeper pulled off a number of quality saves to deny the home side.

As the half-progressed Beer brought on substitutes - Daley Holmes came on and played as a right-sided striker, Will House slotted into midfield and Ryan King as a left-sided striker. All three made an instant impact on the game. 

Holmes was extremely unlucky when his great run left him one-on- one with the keeper who got something on his shot, but the ball continued goal wards. To the Beer faithful it looked destined to drop in, but it hit the bar and bounced clear

King had an even bigger impact when he scored Beer's fourth in the 82nd minute.

Taylor Rooke had the ball at his feet down the Beer left flank. With not a lot of options available, he drove into the area where he slid the ball between two defenders and the ball found its way to Ryan who confidently rolled it into the far corner killing the game off. Rooke took a kick or two while making the pass and on another day a penalty would have been awarded.

As the game was ending Topsham finally got in behind the Beer defence but despite not having to make a save all game, Elliot Driver raced out and got his angles spot on to superbly save the striker's shot and maintain his clean sheet.

The game finished with a very pleasing 4-0 win for the home side. The standard of Beer's football was not great but the commitment and desire from the home players was superb, especially on a day when it was important to get a first win in the Devon League under their belts.

Every player played a big part in this win. 

"Man of the Match, As always there were a lot of candidates,George Harwood and Cody Bowditch both defended well and their quality on the ball was excellent.

Taylor Rooke scored Beer's second and made things happen when he was on the ball, but man-of-the match goes to Josh French, scoring the first and was constantly looking to get on the ball, working extremely hard as the main striker.