Casuals make journey from London to watch their side

Brixham's assistant manager Phil Pickavant

FOOTBALL

“The social aspect is so important in local football and that positive feeling is coming back to the club. The players are enjoying the atmosphere and we are working hard to integrate the reserves into the club, so we’re all in it together. We also have a vibrant youth system, with teams playing at all age levels.”

Newton Spurs have enjoyed an improved run of form in recent weeks but were hit by Kieran Parkin scoring the opening goal with a delightful free-kick for Brixham and the hosts never looked back. Steve Bowker finished off a fine team move, curling his shot past Newton goalkeeper Neal Osborn, who was on the books at Torquay United last season.

Reece Somers, Scott Robinson and Ryan O’Callaghan were also on target for Brixham, who now sit in fifth position, just seven points behind the leaders Elmore and with two games in hand.

It is already shaping up to be an extremely close race at the top and, with Bovey Tracey and Stoke Gabriel also riding high, the ingredients are there for heavy South Devon involvement.

From a Brixham perspective, they are now on a run of four straight victories after a defeat at Appledore in September proved a watershed moment in their campaign

“We played very well on Sat- urday,” said Pickavant. “We never looked like losing the game and thoroughly deserved the win. We had a very poor result at Appledore and the players and management had a very frank discussion after the game. We talked about our ambitions for the seasons and, since then, we’ve performed well.

“We are particularly strong at Wall Park and our objective is to finish in the top four. We feel that is achievable with the quality of players we have.”

The weather wreaked havoc last weekend and the home games for Waldon and Liverton were postponed, as well as the derby match between Stoke Gabriel and Bovey Tracey.