Report by Dick Sturch

Millwey Rise 2nd X1 travelled to Starcross to play HT Dons in the Devon & Exeter Division 4 East and began very much on the front foot but then quickly found themselves under pressure as the 'Dons' started to get a foothold in the game.

It was they who struck first when Rise were down to ten men with James Morgan off the pitch being treated for an unusual but uncomfortable injury - mud in his eye! Dons took a quick throw which caught the Rise defence cold.

This spurred Millwey into action and they got back in the game soon after when Jack Bennett fired a low drive into the bottom corner of the net. Dons once more surprised the Millwey defence by scoring courtesy of another quick throw-in and went in at half time leading 2-1.

At the start of the second period Millwey looked a totally different team, attacking right from the start and quickly equalised from a tremendous Sam Burke free-kick. Millwey's manager Terry Male then made formation changes, not once but twice in an attempt to grab the winning goal and it looked as though he had succeeded when Luke Thurlow scored. The turning point came three minutes into injury time after Leon Finbow made a fantastic block but from the resulting corner Rise failed to clear their lines and HT Dons snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat.

Male picked the returning defender turned striker Leo Maguire as his man-of-the-match for his sheer persistence. He never stopped running and provided an assist for one of the goals.

Next Saturday (December 12th) Millwey Rise 1st X1 visit Pinhoe and Millwey Rise 2nd X1 are at Cloakham Lawns against visiting Otterton 2nd X1 (both kick-offs at 2:15pm).