Budleigh Salterton once again came out of a South West Peninsula League Eastern Division encounter with nothing to show for what was another excellent all-round effort and one that, with a bit more luck, would have yielded them a much-needed success instead of the 3-2 defeat they suffered at the hands of Crediton United, writes Alan Beer.

Ten minutes into the Greenway Lane contest, the Robins were dealt a blow when skipper Luke Iddon suffered what looked to be a twisted knee and he was replaced by Jack England.

Four minutes later the loss of Iddon was compounded as Budleigh fell behind with Simon Durrant netting from close range at the far post.

A fine save by Budleigh glovesman Alan Doble, denying Oli Snow, was followed by long periods of Budleigh control and they fashioned two or three chances, which, on another day, they would have netted and gone in with an advantage instead of trailing by the one goal that they did at the interval.

The second half was just 10 minutes old when parity was restored and it really was no more than the Robins deserved when Ross James headed home a George Pannell corner.

On the hour mark, Jack England had a good chance to fire Budleigh ahead, but his shot fizzed wide of the mark.

A minute later a mistimed header in the Budleigh area saw the ball fall kindly to Kenny Ord, who made no mistake from close range.

However, Budleigh were quickly level again with England atoning for his earlier ‘miss’, taking a pass from Harry Gibbings before drilling the ball home from 18 yards.

The final quarter of the contest saw Budleigh pressing for a third goal, but, as seems to be happening so often this term, they were caught out by a late counter-attack that ended with a second Durrant goal to seal all three points for the visiting side.

This Saturday Budleigh are again in Greenway Lane action when they host Waldon Athletic (3pm).

Hopes are high that influential skipper Luke Iddon will have recovered from his knee injury that forced him out of the Crediton game in the early stages.