BUDE battled hard throughout but were edged out by their young opponents in Exeter on Saturday afternoon.

The Seasiders travelled with a slightly depleted squad, but were further hit by an injury in the warm-up meaning that without any substitutes they knew they would have to go all in.

With a clear plan and tactics to try and stifle the home side’s exuberance, the plan worked and led to an intriguing tactical battle where Exeter were allowed time and space on the ball at the back but Bude blocked the middle ground with good zonal marking. On the rare occasion they did get through, keeper Oscar Kirby was on hand to deny them.

As the half wore on Bude got stronger and stronger and began to create some chances, including late on with a quick counter-attack that left Thomas Hall unmarked. He ran through on goal and just as he was about to shoot a late sliding tackle wiped him out; however the umpires awarded only awarded a penalty corner despite the reckless nature of the tackle, and to the visitors’ dismay.

That chance wasn’t converted as they went in goalless.

The second half started similar to the first half with Bude holding the students at arm’s length for the opening encounters; then out of virtually nowhere Exeter broke the deadlock after 10 minutes as a break down the left was forced over the line after a scrappy couple of passes in the D that Bude failed to react to and clear.

Within two minutes Exeter had doubled their lead with a real sucker punch as a mazy run by the left-winger saw him skip past three Bude defenders and from the tightest of angles unleash a quite outstanding reverse stick shot on the baseline that rifled into the top corner.

Slightly shell-shocked, Bude were now under real pressure as their heavy legs struggled to keep up with the rejuvenated students.

More unforced errors meant the Cornishmen were forced back for a sustained period, but they dug deep. They were spurred on by man-of-the-match Caiden Walbridge who had a dominating game from left-back as he helped drive his team on, and they managed to ride out this difficult passage of play without conceding any more goals.

Bude then turned a corner and as the game came into the final phases they finished the stronger of the two teams, creating multiple clearcut chances.

Just as they thought they were going to come away with nothing, they earned a penalty corner with the last play. Everyone piled up for the final set-piece and with a strong initial shot being saved, the ball was half-cleared. Bude kept the ball alive and Steve McLellan made the most of his chance as he fired the ball back towards goal but the keeper half saved it. A posse of players pounced on the loose ball and they collectively forced it over the line with Marc Leverton getting the last touch to the delight of the good number of travelling supporters.

The result leaves the Seasiders ninth in the 12-team division ahead of Saturday’s trip to Truro Seconds which gets underway at 12.30pm at Truro School.