League Match

St.Stephens 4   Bude 2

It took Bude half an hour before they started to get used to the home teams '3G' Astro pitch but by then they were two nil down.   After 10 minutes Budes Dan Starkey caught Stuart Fort late inside the box and Andy Wright converted the awarded penalty.  St.Stephens, very much used to the pitch continued to work comfortably and scored their second after 25 minutes, a Ben Philip strike outside the box took a deflection on to the head of Dave Williamson to score 6 yards out.  Bude pulled one back right on half time, superb work down the right from Jason Ferrett saw a cross put to the near post and Tommy Statton beat the defender to score inside the near post. Bude were more in the game come the second half, but went 3-1 behind, a lapse at the back allowed Fort through and he lobbed the out coming keeper Gary Dinshaw.  Bude reduced the score line when again Ferretts work down the right saw another cross come in to the near post, this time Billy Hopcroft got across his marker to clip his shot past the home keeper after 75 mins.  Bude had two good chances to equalise, Gary Hodgson had a free header which was put wide and Statton had a better chance, when put through, just the keeper to beat, put his shot wide of the post just yards out.  As Bude pushed players forward St.Stephens produced a counter attack late on, Tom Clark set up Wilkinson to score his second of the game and seal a vital win for them.