Upottery claimed a fourth straight Macron League Premier Division win and also climbed to fourth in the top flight table as they defeated visiting Clyst Valley 5-0

The villagers remain unbeaten at their Glebe Park home this season – in four home games they have drawn two and lost two.

They are unbeaten in league and cup for over two months with their last defeat being a 3-0 reversal at Cronies back on September 23.

Upottery’s scorers in the win over Clyst Valley were Ryan Vickery (2), Max McKeown, Jamie Girton and Sam Winslade.

Upottery boss Dan Prettejohn said: “What really pleased me about the win was the fact that I challenged the players to prove that they can win the games they ‘ought’ to succeed in. I don’t mean that disrespectfully to Clyst Valley, but the lads have shown before against the Honiton’s, Feniton’s and Exmouth Towns that they can play against the top teams, but all too often in the past we have come up short in other contests. It still irks me that we dropped points to Witheridge. But, to be fair to the lads, they delivered in style. It was a terrific all-round show.”

So with Upottery now sitting at their highest ever league position of fourth, how high can Prettejohn’s team finish this season.

He says: “I don’t believe we can get in front of what I will politely call the ‘money teams’, but what we can do it target being the ‘best of the rest’ and that means, at the very least, finishing where we are now. I am very proud of the fact that we do not pay players to play, indeed, all the lads still pay a match fee.”

Upottery are set to miss the services of Sam Winslade who is off to Australia for three months. Prettejohn says: “Sam will be missed. He’s both a good player and a popular lad in the dressing room. We wish him all the best and look forward to having him back for the last few games of the season.”

On Saturday (December 9) Upottery travel to Topsham Town. Prettejohn says: “It’s another of those games that I would expect us to do well in so, once again it’ll be a case of ‘over to you lads’ top see if the players can indeed do the business.”