After last weeks’ poor performance at Bampton, Beer Albion got back to winning ways with a 4-1 victory over Division 1 side Winchester in the East Devon Senior Cup, writes Mike Adkin.

With four changes to the squad and some changed players positions, the Fishermen were fairly slow and lacked cohesion for the opening 15 minutes.

Although far from their best they took the lead in the 22nd minute when Chris Long did extremely well to close down their keeper and block his clearance to give himself an easy tap in. However, Winchester's pressing game was forcing mistakes but thankfully keeper Elliot Driver was on hand to make a number of great one on one saves. They did get an equaliser in the 32nd minute, their striker getting a good shot away but the referee pulled it back and awarded a penalty for a slightly late tackle, which was duly dispatched. Straight from the restart Beer could have gone ahead again, playing some good quick passing football before a shot just slid past the far post. The interval came with things all square, but joint managers Mark Rooke and Alan Potter's half time talk had the desired effect, with the Fishermen coming out a different team. They were, soon dominating possession and increasingly outplaying their opponents, and .Jamie Walker did well to carry on after a very dangerous and surprisingly unpunished tackle caught him on his ankle. Beer then took the lead again with a goal from Giles Basson, Taylor Rooke doing well down the right before squaring the ball to Chris Long who used his strength well to hold off two defenders to allow Giles to stroke the ball home. The third followed quickly, Rooke did very well to rise above the Winchester defence to flick on driver's long kick, and Basson did the rest, timing his run well and racing clear before sliding the ball under the Winchester keeper. By this time the Fishermen's midfield had taken control, and the defence looked far more comfortable. The fourth and final goal was once again scored by Basson, his tricky footwork bamboozling the Winchester defence and when he was eventually fouled the referee had no option other than to award a penalty, with Basson stroking it home to complete his hat trick. The opposition then became more and more physical, and a fracas developed after a mis-timed tackle from Joe Adkin, who was subsequently red carded, but bafflingly no Winchester player was sanctioned after a stamp on Rooke, which required treatment off the field. However, Beer easily saw out the final minutes, despite being down to nine men for a time, and booked their place in the second round, a difficult looking tie away to either Cronies or Newtown. Although Basson played superbly for his hat trick, match sponsor Marine House at Beer picked out Rooke as man of the match for his work rate and quality on the ball, and his playing a big part in two of Fishermen's goals.Beer Reserves made it three wins out of three with a 2-0 victory at Upottery Reserves in the Bill Slee Cup, goals coming from Max Richardson and Tom NealeNext up for the Fishermen's 1sts is a Devon Premier Cup tie this Saturday against East Allington Utd from the South Devon League. Kick off is 2 pm, with the match to be sponsored by Alison Arbourne. The Reserves have a long away trip to play Tamar View from the Plymouth & West Devon League in the Devon Senior Cup.