Devon Cup

[MidDevon]

It was a fair run out for some players on , as reported , a really heavy pitch. The "professionals" within the team looked the stronger players (Halpin, Macklin, Yeoman) altough to be fair this was never a pitch for passing football. To their credit United kept trying to pass the ball and I think they would have won quite easily had they played on a better pitch. It was nice to see Ricey take the captains armband as well. Seems a pity that the likes of McPhee missed out on 90 minutes, but understandable in the circumstances

This was not by any means a full strength Willand Rovers team, they had some key players missing, I suspect because their next match is a vital top of the table Westen League game, followed next Saturday by an FA VASE game. They had drafted in some players from Cullompton and had a 17 year old in goal and another couple of youth players played as well.

For me this game was as local as it gets, but well done to those who mde the trip up from Torquay, i would guess 30 to 40 in a crowd of 140.

[ferrarilover]

In terms of absolute quality on show, the single worst game I have ever seen. That said, about 90% of that was down to the pitch. I did say earlier in this thread that I would let you know how Macklin got on, but it's completely pointless, because unless we play at the Somme any time soon, it really doesn't bear comparison.

Still, nice to get a win.

One thing which did make me laugh was the fact that it's called a stadium. Now come on Willand, a field in the middle of a council estate lit by half a dozen 40W bulbs is NOT a stadium.

Girl in the tea bar was cute though.

Matt.

[MidDevon]

A bit of background on that one. Bruce Henderson who is the Exeter City commercial manager lives nearby. Prior to being at Exeter he was commercial manager at Willand and managed to get Stan Robinson transport to sign up to a significant amount of cash to rename "Silver Street", altough locally that is what it is still called.

I think anyone who went yesterday could see how much "off the field" activities have contributed to Willand Rovers moving from Devon league football to top of the Western League in the last 10 years. The club have a website that was updated at 9.45 last night, a large youth set up and a bar that is generally packed with standing room only after matches.

Bruce lives in Sampford Peverell , a couple of miles from Willand, and even manged to get advertising hordings, post and rails and hard standing on the side of the pitch, and even dug outs paid by sponsors for the village team who play in divison 5 of the Devon and Exeter league! To me that is very impressive.

Sometimes it is frustrating to see, for example you can buy Willand replica tops and scarves using PayPal on Willand's site yet still not on Torquay's, but it does just show what one person with a commercial background can do when surrounded by a few very enthusiastic and likeminded people.

Bruice's work at Exeter is of course well recognised and many of Exeter's main sponsors such as Flybe and ALS motorparts have also been encouraged to support Willand Rovers.

Whilst our very own Mr Candy is not Torquay's commercial Manager, he brings with him a very similar "can do attitude" and determaination that has been so sadly lacking in my opinion off the field at Plainmoor in previous years.