GoCrea8 Premiership

Team Bath Buccs 2 Taunton Vale 2

VALE continued their resurgence with a hard-fought 2-2 draw at Bath Buccaneers on Saturday.

Goals from Sam Young and Jonathan Lewis-Oliver had fired Vale into a 2-0 first-half lead, but Bath fought back to level the scores and ensure a share of the spoils.

Utilising the flanks early on, Vale penetrated Bath’s half and allowed their young front line to cause chaos in their shooting circle.

One such penetrating ball found Sam Young, to convert a great team goal from a series of successive passes.

Newly released from Nottingham and back in the Vale ranks, Ewen Alexander found great joy using his skills from right back to eliminate four of the Bath defenders, by slipping the ball to Jonathan Lewis-Oliver, who neatly scored another goal .

As the game progressed, Vale made some simple errors to turn over possession within their own half and Bath pounced upon a loose ball in the D to make it 2-1.

After the break, Bath continued to counter-attack with greater numbers getting ahead of play.

With a short corner awarded to Bath in the final minutes of the match, a swift drag flick low to the keepers right saw Bath secure a draw on their home turf.

With some fantastic individual performances and players returning to the squad from injury, Vale continue their programme of retribution in the second phase of the season. Man of the match was awarded to Ewen Alexander for a great return debut performance.

Vale host Truro on Saturday (February 6, 1.30pm).

Conference South

Taunton Vale A 3 North Devon 2

Taunton Vale A beat North Devon 3 - 2 in a ding-dong battle last Saturday to go back to the top of Conference South division.

Vale controlled possession in both first and second halves and had plenty of chances, but North Devon's keeper Sam Wormington kept his side in the game with some outstanding saves.

North Devon broke away twice at the end of the first-half to take an unexpected 2-0 lead.

Vale were determined not to lose this game and put North Devon under more pressure in the second half

A storming performance saw Ben Hembrow, Michael Cleverly and Paul Hawkins (man of the match) all scoring in an enthralling end to the match.

It really was a dramatic end to a topsy-turvy match, and with title rivals Plymouth University losing in their fixture, Vale A now lead the division again.

PGSOB A 1 Taunton Vale B 7

BEN Luxton scored a hat-trick as Taunton Vale B thrashed PGSOB 7-1 to regain top spot in Southern Division Two.

Calvin Bull (2), Colin Jewhurst and Tom Tridgell were also on target for Vale in a comprehensive win.

Vale started slowly and conceded an early goal, but soon regrouped and equalised through a Ben Luxton drag flick from a short corner.

Tom Tridgell then bundled in from close range to put his side into the lead - and early in the second half, Vale won a penalty corner on the break, which Luxton duly converted.

This seemed to take the wind out of PGSOB’s sails, as Luxton almost immediately picked up the fourth goal for his hat trick.

Calvin Bull then outpaced the tiring defence before crossing for Colin Jewhurst to score the fifth.

Bull got on the score sheet himself with a volleyed finish from a parried Luxton flick - and the seventh goal was a superb team effort, finished off by Bull for his second of the day.

Taunton Vale D 2 Bridgwater 2

TAUNTON Vale D returned to action this week with a 2-2 draw at Bridgwater.

Vale started positively and the lead then came after 10 minutes with an excellent shot from Harry Stephenson.

Shortly after, Vale scored again through a mazy run from midfielder Rob McHardy.

Despite the two-goal cushion, Bridgwater pulled one back late in the first half.

In the second half, it was Bridgwater who took their opportunity to equalise through a deflected short corner.