Stoke Hill 0 v 1 Brixington Blues

Goals: Oliver Dawkins 46 mins

Brixington Blues U15s continue to improve their form and edged a tightly contested match against local rivals Stoke Hill.

The Blues had stand-in goalkeeper Thomas Brooking command his defence, allowing them to play out from the back and the quality in the midfield kept the Blues on the front foot all game.

Josh Tompkinson linked up well with Ryan McCann and Ned O’Mahoney in midfield to create early problems for Stoke Hill. Taylor Westaway, Harley Westaway and Louise Forde were typically robust in their defensive tackling to turn any sight of Stoke Hill pressure into counter-attacks.

The Blues were unlucky to end the first half at 0-0, especially after an excellent performance from Will Palfrey who put a number of superb crosses into the danger area.

Early in the second half, the Blues piled the pressure on with some great passes out from the back from Frank Shelton, and Harry Tooby, who was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet, hitting the woodwork.

Josh Tomkinson battled for the ball, holding off two players, to turn and send a cute, defence splitting, pass for Oliver Dawkins. His initial shot was spilled by the ‘keeper, but he was there to follow up and rifle into the bottom right-hand corner to take the lead.

Captain Harry Batten was a commanding presence at centre half and encouraged his team to finish strongly. Brixington are now looking to work their way up the Division and will be looking forward to playing high-flying Topsham Town next Saturday.

Line up: Thomas Brooking 1, Frank Shelton 2, Louis Foord 18, Ryan McCann 6, Oliver Dawkins 7, Ned O’Mahoney 8, Josh Tompkinson 10, Harry Batten 9, Harley Westaway 99, Taylor Westaway 21, Harry Tooby 22