SDFL division three

seconds 3

Teign Village 0

For the second week running, Dartmouth enjoyed a home game, this time their first in the league at Long­cross.

In difficult playing conditions they put in a decent shift to run out comfortable winners.

The early exchanges saw both teams struggle to get the ball moving and and it wasn’t till the 18th minute that Dartmouth grabbed the all important opening goal.

A long ball over the top from Darts’ centre-back Jack Berry allowed the ever-reliable Nick Rushe to burst clear and coolly round the on rushing keeper before sliding the ball into the empty net.

Taking the lead really settled the hosts and for the remainder of the first half they camped in the Villagers’ half, looking to extend their advantage.

Teddy Armitage and Will Kenny worked tirelessly either side of Rushe and the chances began to come.

With 10 minutes to go until the interval Dartmouth made it 2-0 to give themselves some much-needed breathing space.

Rhys Morrallee was switched to the right wing and it paid instant rewards when he dribbled past his marker before whipping a lovely cross to the far post for poacher Rushe to nod home for his second of the game.

With the back four of James Lee, Dan Drury, Richard Yeo and Berry in no mood to let the visitors have a sniff of goal, it meant a relatively quiet afternoon for Darts ‘keeper Aaron Morrison, whose first two games have resulted in a clean sheet.

The second half was only six minutes old when Dartmouth scored the goal of the game to put the result beyond any doubt.

A scintillating move started 10 yards inside their own half when Scott McRoy won back possession and released Lee out on the right touchline.

The full-back played a lovely one-two with Joe Kirby before slipping a pass to Will Kenny on the wing, who in turn picked out Rushe on the edge of the area.

The striker turned his marker inside out before letting fly with an absolute rocket which flew into the top left-hand corner, leaving the keeper rooted and bringing huge celebrations from his jubilant team-mates.

It was a fine way to complete another hat-trick for the striker, who now has 17 goals for the season.

The Darts could, and perhaps should, have added a few more goals to the scoreline, but some excellent goalkeeping from the Teign number one and some very near misses prevented that from happening.

First McRoy let fly from fully 30 yards out, but the ‘keeper somehow tipped it on to the crossbar and the ball bounced on the goal line before being cleared. Morrallee then wondered how he hadn’t scored when he met a superb cross from Robbie Chalk with a point-blank header, which again was somehow parried by the ‘keeper.

In the closing stages Dartmouth brought on 16-year-old Cameron Webb for his debut, and within minutes the forward was played in on goal by a perfect James Lee through ball which sprung the offside trap.

Unfortunately the youngster’s shot flew wide of the post to spoil any thoughts of a debut goal.

In the end Dartmouth had to settle for a 3-0 win, which moves them above Teign Village and into fourth spot in the table. Dartmouth AFC Man of the match was Nick Rushe.

It’s back to Devon Cup action tomorrow for the Darts, when they travel to East Allington knowing a quarter-final place is up for grabs for the winners. Kick off is at 2pm and all travelling support is very welcome.