MATT Hayden was in attendance last week as his former club, Bovey Tracey AFC, dominated Newton Abbot Spurs from start to finish, alongside the rest of the Stoke Gabriel & Torbay Police management team.

This will have given them great confidence ahead of their own visit to The Rec but they returned to the South Hams empty-handed last night.

Hayden said, “We did come and watch them last week against Bovey Tracey and I think it was a completely different side, they brought different people in today.

“They also had more fight, more hunger, more desire- we warned our players that if we give them an inch today, they’ll take a mile.”

As alluded to there, Spurs’ elevated performance was certainly aided by the return of a few key figures, both Tyler Joint and Finn Pearse coming back into the defence and the physical Brad Crocombe in the middle of the park from the off.

Talking of Joint and it was the roaming full-back who scored both of the Spurs goals, forcing them into a commanding lead in the second half.

This wasn’t before the supporters watched 45 minutes of goalless, yet entertaining football. There was little more than half-chances at both ends, although both managers agreed that it was Spurs who carried the greater threat.

Hayden asserted that the hosts “deserved the win from start to finish” with Spurs boss Connor Marshall adding, “I thought we were absolutely brilliant from minute one to minute 90. We came with a purpose and actually stuck to the gameplan, the boys first half were absolutely dominating them.

“I just thought we had so many chances to put the game to bed in the first half but sadly we didn’t.”

He went on to say that he was “over the moon” with the way in which his side bounced back from that lingering Bovey defeat.

“The boys knew how disappointed I was and how disappointed they were against Bovey and tonight they just excelled, did everything I asked, sticking to our identity more.”

On the contrary, Hayden said, “I can’t take anything away from [Spurs], they battled hard, they fought more than us and they wanted it more than us from the start which is disappointing for me to say because up until this point, we have been that side so to turn up today and not to be that side, it hurts.”

As previously mentioned, the first half went by with little to no incident. Stoke were appealing for Spurs skipper Lewis Breslan to be shown a red card towards the end as he brought down Jesse Howe but to no avail, the referee opting for yellow instead.

Howe wasn’t in the starting XI but came on earlier than expected with Tom Burt unable to continue following a heavy, but fair challenge.

It took mere seconds for a similar incident to take place after the break, but instead it was the other way around. Toby Pullman flew through a hole and was felled by Tom Dunlop and in spite of the vociferous protestations, the man in the middle only showed a yellow to the defender.

The away side weren’t out of the woods yet though.

Pullman’s effort from the set-piece was cleared as far as the edge of the box where Owen Green sent it goalwards. A deft flick from fullback Tyler Joint beat goalkeeper Jim Weeks and sent the Spurs players into rapturous celebrations.

The aforementioned Joint may have a wand of a left foot but after heading home the opener, he worked the space well and let off a well-placed shot with his weaker right foot to double his tally on the night.

It didn’t take long for the deficit to be reduced back to that single goal though, off of the back of a goalmouth scramble. Kane Gregory punched a corner into a group of bodies and despite his best efforts, the follow-up crossed the line, substitute Sean Adderley being credited with the goal by the Stoke social team.

At this point it could be argued that momentum was on the side of the away team with Marshall conceding that they continued to “pile on a lot of pressure.”

Hayden was on the same page, adding that “It maybe wasn’t until the last 10 minutes that it swung back in our favour.

“It’s just about instilling belief, any time we go forward we have to believe that we can get a chance, even down to the last 30 seconds, just keep believing that something will fall our way.”

After all, just one chance will do it and many associated with Stoke will have felt as if they had taken it.

Centre-half Jordan McCarthy, another to have followed Hayden over from his former employers, headed down into the ground at the death and it seemed for all the while that he had found the equaliser. A collective gasp echoed around The Rec when Kane Gregory got down to scoop the ball wide of the post and out for a corner- a moment deserving of winning the match.

Marshall was complimentary of their guests: “Credit to Stoke, they were a great side that kept coming and didn’t give up at all. They’re a very talented and determined group.”

Hayden also praised Spurs and mused that “literally from the first minute they were just relentless and we let them get that foothold in the game.”

Both sides will go again this weekend, Stoke look to have a rebound of their own away at Torridgeside AFC and Spurs visiting Bishops Lydeard.