On sunny Wednesday afternoon at Fairfax Park, Team BC secured the South West Category two Playoff title in a gritty 1 – 0 victory over Exeter College.

After a steady start by both sides, the first chance of the game fell to Exeter after some good work down the left wing. The ball fell to the striker at an angle, as his shot hit the outside of the post down low to the keeper’s right-hand corner.

Team BC started to build into the game with midfield pair Harry Horton and Kieran Ireland trying to make things happen. Team BC forced a corner, and Rhys Haywards’ cross found centre-back Reece Malcom, but his shot was turned over the bar.

The home side were now pushing forward and carrying an attacking threat and it was Team BC to break the deadlock shortly before the interval, Horton turned away from two men in the centre of the park before flicking a ball over the top for striker Josh Evans to chase. He rounded the keeper before calmly slotting the ball into an open net at a tight angle.

The second half started as the first finished, with Team BC trying to grab a second. Evans continued to cause problems however the Exeter back line stood firm.

The last 15 minutes of the game would provide Elite North with their greatest test of the season as Exeter went in search of an equaliser. James Annison made a series of important saves to deny any chance of the away side getting back into the game.

The full-time whistle sparked Team BC celebrations as they secured the playoff title, but full amount of respect to Exeter College who gave the host’s a very tough game.

Jamie Laird, Elite North coach said,

“Just wanted to say thanks to the lads on behalf of myself and Tom for how well they’ve played for us all season because this win hasn’t just come from today it’s come from the performances we’ve put in this season. We’ve put in a lot of hard work over the whole season going into today, and we were brilliant today and they deserved the win.”

Tom Sage added,

“We just needed to think about our game management in those last 15 minutes, knowing when to press and when to hold, we had to keep everyone in the game and making sure everyone stayed switched on because we knew they would try and throw as many men as possible towards our goal so we had to stay hard to break down.”

Goal-scorer Josh Evans was delighted to get the winning goal,

“I saw the ball come over the top and the defender on my shoulder and I’ve managed to get in front of him to round the keeper and there was only one thought on my mind and that was to score, luckily it went in!”

Captain Harry Horton was delighted with his team’s performance,

“I said to the lads at half-time we just need to keep making it hard for Exeter, we knew how they wanted to play a passing style of football, so we had to chase everything down, luckily it worked today.”