Beer Albion edged a close Devon League encounter with Newtown at the Furzebrake and moved up to eighth in the table to remain in touch with the leaders.

A strong opening spell from the home side was rewarded when a cross from Matt Berry found Taylor Rooke and he cut inside before curling in his shot.

The lead lasted some twenty minutes before a rebound from a free kick fell kindly for the visitors and they reacted quickly to force the ball in.

Beer reset and went 2-1 up before the break. A throw-in from Berry was flicked on by Taylor Rooke and Charlie Ledger was on hand to head the ball home.

The Fishermen took charge for much of the second half with the visitors restricted to infrequent breakaways.

A two-goal advantage was needed however and that finally arrived as George Harwood’s corner found Joe Adkin at the near post where he guided the ball in.

With Beer’s central defenders winning the aerial battle at the back the home side looked comfortable until the closing minutes when another set piece brought about a tense finish.

Newtown were awarded a free kick just outside the area and when Max Haywood pulled off a great save to parry it, the ball was scrambled in during the melee that followed to make the result 3-2.

Budleigh Salterton took to the field resplendent in new kit at home against Thorverton but ended the game losing 1-0.

The visitors have done well in recent games but Budleigh were well in the match throughout without managing to find that cutting edge.

Ryan Moody scored the Thorverton goal with a header on the back post in the first half with Charlie Skinner having the best of the chances for the home side.

Budleigh threw everything at the Thorverton defence especially during the last twenty minutes but a combination of sound defending and good goalkeeping kept them at bay.

Injury plagued Ottery St.Mary were in the wars away to the University of Exeter and ended up losing 4-0.

Charlie Norris was injured in the warm up, leading scorer Seb Copp went down after five minutes and centre back James Gosney was also out of action in the first half.

The students had most of the possession and always looked dangerous yet the game was still goal-less at half time.

As the injury toll continued, UoE took the lead on the hour and then two fine individual strikes in quick succession put them 3-0 ahead.

The home side added a fourth goal near the end as the Otters finished with ten fit players on the field and all substitutes used.

On a brighter note, Ottery manager Rikki Pitter told the Herald, “One positive from the day was new signing Lewis Wilson making his debut with thirty minutes from the bench. He looked very lively and probably should have scored a couple of goals.”

This Saturday, Budleigh Salterton are at Dartmouth and Beer Albion visit Topsham Town. Both games are in the Devon Premier Cup and kick off at 2.00 p.m. Ottery St. Mary have no game.