Devon Intermediate Cup

Liverton United seconds 1

Dartmouth AFC seconds 4

This second-round tie pitched two very good footballing sides against one another, and on a decent playing surface at Halford, it was the away side that put on an outstanding performance.

It was an even opening to the match with both sides comfortable on the ball, passing it well and looking to unlock the opposing defence.

Darts’ ‘keeper Simon Holmes needed to be alert to save smartly down low to his right following a snap-shot from distance.

At the other end, Dart­mouth’s James Lee was causing all sorts of problems down the right wing, creating chances for his strikers, who went agonisingly close.

The deadlock was broken with 16 minutes on the clock, and it was the hosts who got their noses in front when a soft free-kick was awarded 25 yards from goal in a threatening central position.

Up stepped Lee Bres­lan to fire the ball over the wall and into the roof of the net. The opening goal seemed to have a positive effect on the visitors, who came to life and played some excellent football for the remainder of the half.

The equaliser was coming and arrived 10 minutes before the break. Joe Kirby won back possession with a brilliant tackle before being fouled. Scott McRoy’s quick free-kick found Chris Col­lett, who in turn picked out right-back Daniel Drury in acres of room out wide.

His deep cross was controlled superbly by Teddy Armitage to create a one-on-one situation with the Liverton ‘keeper, and the striker coolly sent him sprawling the wrong way before rolling his shot into the back of the net.

The sides went in at half time level, but Darts were now in the ascendancy.

The second half was pretty much one-way traffic and the visitors could sense victory as they pegged the home side inside their own half with some wonderful passing and pressing.

Nick Rushe had a couple of sniffs at goal early on, but made no mistake in the 12th minute with one of the goals of the season so far.

Armitage played a perfect pass over the sluggish defence and Rushe latched on to it before smashing an audacious 35-yard lob over the advancing ‘keeper, which bounced on the goal-line and rippled the top corner of the net.

The introduction of Robbie Chalk down the left wing meant more trouble for the hosts as he worked well to create more opportunities, linking up well with Darts skipper Kev Causley.

Midway through the half Dartmouth made it 3-1 when a flick on evaded the desperate Liverton central de­fenders, allowing the outstanding Armitage to race clear, round the on-rushing ‘keeper and slide the ball home expertly from a difficult angle.

It capped a fantastic individual performance from the striker, his best of the season to date. With Dart­mouth now in total control, the icing was put on the proverbial cake with six minutes of the tie remaining.

A short corner from McRoy was held up well by Rushe, who wriggled free of two defenders before sending over a cross to the far post which was met by a brilliant header from Will Kenny.

The striker had only been on the pitch for three minutes but showed great composure to notch his fifth goal of the season.

Dartmouth AFC’s man of the match was Teddy Armitage.

Its back to league action tomorrow for Dartmouth, as they look to keep the winning run going and put more points on the board, when they travel to Teign Village for a 2.30pm kick-off.