Devon & Exeter League
Division 5
Monday 21st April 2025
Kick Off 15.00 Actual 14.58!
Cheriton Fitzpaine 0 Willand XI 1, attendance 23
58’ 0-1
@ White Cross
White Cross Hill
Cheriton Fitzpaine
EX17 4HE
No Admission or Programme.
I had a choice of three games in this league today, opting for Cheriton Fitzpaine in Division 5. There were two reasons for this. Firstly, they’re a club who’ve played in the higher levels of the league in the past and secondly, it was a game with something still riding on it. This was the last game of the season for the hosts, who are third from bottom in the league table and if they lost, they could still be overtaken by Awliscombe and Chagford, who currently occupy the bottom two places. Willand XI, however, are still in with a chance of promotion, but more importantly, a chance of winning the league. They came into this sitting second, two points clear of third placed Axminster Town Reserves and four points behind leaders City Raiders, with this being the first of their two games in hand they had over them.
It was closer than I’d been expecting. Cheriton Fitzpaine fought very hard for the entire ninety minutes and proved a hard nut for Willand XI to crack, which seemed to be a recurring story, as the reverse fixture had finished 0-0 a month ago. The best chance of the first half saw Willand hit the crossbar, with the rebound fired well over the top. The second half saw the visitors pile on the pressure. They had a goal ruled out for offside eleven minutes into the second half, but made the breakthrough just two minutes later, when a diagonal cross from the right was finished from close range and that was enough to seal the points.So, Willand know if they win their last two games they’re champions, whilst Cheriton Fitzpaine will have a nervous wait hoping the bottom two don’t pick up enough points from their last games to overhaul them, although previous results point towards this being very unlikely.
The ground here at White Cross Hill is a cracker for the level they play at. It’s to the east of the village, which is roughly halfway between Crediton and Tiverton. There is enough parking inside the ground for the crowds they get, with the pitch running lengthways in front of you as you enter. The pitch is railed along the near touchline, with a small section of cover on the far side, next to the dugouts, with advert boards on the wooden fencing going from there to the corner. The two storey clubhouse/changing rooms are in the far right corner, where there was a tea bar in operation, with snacks limited to chocolate bars and small tubs of Pringles.
The game finished at 16.45 and with SatNav avoiding a huge chunk of the A303 coming back, arrival home was just after 9 o’clock.
