WBW South Devon Premier Division

Kingsteignton Athletic 2,

Dartmouth AFC 4

Dartmouth continued their fine start to the season with a hard-fought 4-2 victory away at previously unbeaten Kingsteignton Athletic.

The away side found it tough going in the opening exchanges, struggling to get a foothold in the game

as the hosts looked to catch Dartmouth on the counter-attack.

The Dartmouth midfield slowly started to move the ball around with more conviction and began to feed Karl Baker and Josh Webber in dangerous positions in the final third.

The first real chance of the match arrived after 15 minutes, with Baker seeing his strike crash against the crossbar when it looked destined to nestle into the net.

Dartmouth then missed an opportunity to take the lead and it was Ben Greeno and Liam McAuley who both came close to capitalising on Webber’s dangerous cross into the area.

As Dartmouth were lacking a cutting edge in the box – something that has served them so well over the past few years – the hosts began to grow into the game and a series of corners and free kicks brought the best out of the commanding Ryan Walton in the Dartmouth goal as he collected the ball confidently to ease the pressure.

Twenty five minutes were on the clock when the first goal of the afternoon arrived, and it was the danger man Webber who gave his side the lead. He struck in across the ’keeper from the left side of the box after good play from player-manager Mark Forrester and McAuley.

Shortly afterwards a massive stroke of luck favoured Kingsteignton after a shot from outside the box hit the unfortunate Jordan Frost before looping into the back of the net to level proceedings.

Dartmouth should have been handed the chance to regain the lead immediately when McAuley was blatantly denied a goalscoring opportunity in the box, but the referee waved away the Dartmouth protests.

That said, it was left winger Webber who doubled his tally for the day, scoring a carbon copy of his first goal to restore his team’s lead just before half-time.

Dartmouth knew they were in a game and returned from the interval knowing they had to up their performance level, and it was Greeno’s speculative long-range effort that came close to extending the lead.

Forrester, Greeno, Ryan Frost and Webber continued to see more of the ball and began to control proceedings, and on the hour mark their side scored a third goal.

An excellent McAuley cross found Karl Baker unmarked, and his delicate, deft touch ensured he scored for the third consecutive game this season.

Five minutes later a controversial penalty was awarded to Kingsteign-ton and was only just ­dispatched beyond the excellent Walton to reduce the margin of ­victory and set up a nervy last 15 minutes.

The home side pressed for an equaliser but never looked like creating a clear-cut chance, with the young defensive pairing of Danny Rushe and Jordan Frost standing firm.

Lady luck was this time shining over Dartmouth when they sealed victory with 10 minutes remaining. McAuley’s ambitious effort took a wicked deflection before landing in the back of the net to extend Dartmouth’s 100 per cent start to the ­season.

This was an important three points against tough opposition, who will no doubt claim some scalps over the length of the league campaign.

This week the first team are without a game.