BUDE fell to a second straight defeat since returning to action after the Christmas as unbeaten leaders Ocean City proved far too strong in Plymouth.

The Seasiders started with hope and promise knowing they had nothing to lose, but it was the home side who came out firing. Pouncing on a few slight mistakes at the back, they piled on the pressure and scored with virtually the first shot of the game.

Bude responded well and put some pressure on the home side, but a slick counter-attack down the right-hand side completely undid the visitors’ spirits as the Devonians swept home their second goal of the afternoon within the first 10 minutes.

Bude struggled to cope with the pace, movement and relentless waves of attack from all directions of the hosts who relaxed and found their rhythm; they really settled into a business-like performance that could undo Bude with relative ease and at will.

The scoreline could easily have racked up into a cricket score, but the Cornishmen dug deep to try and stay in the fight; led by Ryan Chalkey marshalling things as best he could from the centre of defence.

But unfortunately there were gaps appearing here, there and everywhere. This meant plenty of action for the young Oscar Kirby in the Bude goal who recovered well from his initial slow start as he then made a number of crucial saves. But there was very little the defence could do to fully stop Ocean City as they went on to score another three times before the half-time break.

Bude tweaked the system at the interval to try and cope with the threats that the Plymothians’ posed, and despite letting a early goal in at the start of the second hal, they persevered and it started to pay dividends as Bude had a purple passage of play; stringing together some lovely passes which opened up the home side and led to some great attacking opportunities. However, they could not get a goal that their play justified.

Despite bucket loads of determination, Bude slowly ran out of gas and became more and more tired as the game wore on.

Having just one substitution compared to Ocean City’s five was only going to add to the already monumental task in front of them, but special mention must go to youngster Louis Motsch who stepped up extremely well at short notice from the Bude Development team and he gave a great solid performance in a number of covering roles that will bolster his chances of pushing for a first team spot next season.

Ocean City scored a further two goals in the closing stages to give them a comfortable 8-0 win in the end which left Bude with plenty to ponder before Saturday’s crucial home clash with Torbay who sit just one point above them in the table. The game at the Budehaven Sports Centre gets underway at 1.30pm.

Bude’s man of the match went to the diminutive Robin Jennings who put in a giant performance in the middle.

Such was his output, he popped up all over the pitch, making countless tackles, endless runs and passes with true grit, determination and with a lion’s heart right from the first to the last whistle.