Herald Cup

Loddiswell Athletic 1,

Dartmouth 3

Dartmouth progressed into the quarter-finals of the Herald Cup with a fine 3-1 win over premier division side Loddiswell Athletic.

As expected, the game started a little cagey with neither team managing to retain possession or create any clear cut chances.

Dartmouth were looking the more comfortable of the two sides, with Mark Sneap looking a threat on the left-hand side of midfield.

The first real chance of the game arrived in the 15th minute, when a Mark Forrester corner was cleared only as far as Karl Baker, who floated the ball to the back post for Sneap to lash home and give the visitors the lead.

This seemed to spark Dartmouth into life, and they began to create a number of chances without really testing the home 'keeper.

The hosts were also looking dangerous on the attack, but the centre-back pairing of Kevin Causley and Jordan Frost were dealing well with Loddiswell's aerial threat.

It was from a fine flowing counter attack where the visitors scored their second of the afternoon.

Dan Broadway laid the ball off to full-back Freddie Smith, who floated a pass to Baker, who then rounded the defender with ease before striking under the 'keeper and into the far corner.

The hosts were still looking dangerous on the attack, and pulled a goal back on the half hour when Dartmouth failed to deal with a long throw-in.

The ball fell kindly for a Lodds player, alowing him to dispatch acrobatically past Sam Davies and into the roof of the net.

However, Dartmouth made it three just before the break when unselfish play from Baker found Broadway on the edge of the box, who then composed himself to strike home with a clinical finish.

Dartmouth were pleased with their first half performance, but managers Chick Havlin and Gary Lobb reiterated that their side couldn't afford to take their foot of the gas in the second half.

Loddiswell came out fighting and took the game to Dartmouth.

They would have made it 2-3 had it not been for Davies in the Dartmouth net tipping over the crossbar.

From the resulting corner, Smith and Ryan Frost managed to scramble off the line to preserve the visitors' two-goal cushion.

Chick Havlin decided to bring on winger Richie Baker for the remaining 20 minutes, and his through ball nearly resulted in brother Karl putting the game to bed, but he shot agonisingly wide.

Loddiswell struggled to produce any real goal scoring opportunities, and the whistle sounded to see Dartmouth over the line and into the quarter-final draw.

Dartmouth reserves will be disappointed having gone down to a 3-0 defeat at Totnes and Dartington thirds in the quarter-finals of the Fred Hewings Cup.

This week both sides return to league action; Dartmouth firsts host Buckland Athletic, and the reserves travel to Roselands.

Both kick-offs are at 2.30pm.