After four months without football, Exmouth Rovers returned to the Devon and Exeter League with two very different victories in the space of three days.
The revised fixture schedule placed immediate focus on the fitness and attitude of the Rovers’ squad, questions they answered in emphatic style.
It all started with a battling 2-1 win at Otterton in Division 1 East on Saturday.
“We were thrown in at the deep end,” said Exmouth Rovers manager Tom Matthews. “Otterton is always a hard place to visit and the first half was very even.
“Both teams looked rusty and Otterton probably kept the ball better than us in the first half. We made a little formation change and Ewan Anderson came off the bench to score both our goals, although we had to survive a tense last five minutes when they scored a late consolation.”
There was no time for popping socially-distanced champagne corks, as Rovers were back on the road to face Teignmouth Reserves on Easter Monday.
Despite the Teigns being able to field some players from their first-team, Rovers produced a wonderful display of attacking football to run out 6-0 winners.
James Clark took the headlines with a scintillating hat-trick, Robbie Lambert scored a peach from the edge of the area and there were also goals for Jake Chudley and Merik Yilmaz.
“I thought we were massively up against it at Teignmouth, on a massive pitch, but we were brilliant on the day,” added Matthews. “The lads all worked for each other and a great team performance.
“We took our chances and defended well all over the pitch.
“Teignmouth’s first-team had their friendly cancelled earlier in the day, so they had a bolstered squad but we gave them nothing.
“We were 3-0 up at half-time and followed that up in the second half. It feels like football is back and we’ve picked up from where we left before Christmas.
“It’s great to have local football back and the lads need it. None of us get paid, we just do it for the pure enjoyment of playing football.”

Exmouth Journal: Tiring Easter for Exmouth RoversTiring Easter for Exmouth Rovers (Image: Exmouth Rovers)