Watcombe Wanderers win the Devon Premier Cup

It must be around five years since the South Devon League took the decision to switch the Herald Cup away from Good Friday. The rationale was that it should be the final game of the entire SDL season. The principle remains even though, after such a wet winter, that's not quite the case this season. There are premier division fixtures right up until this Saturday, one of the latest finishes anywhere in the country, after which the matter of Brixham's possible promotion will be decided.

As for the Herald Cup, the SDL hasn't - gate wise - enjoyed the best of fortunes since the switch: one final served up the likelihood of a one-sided contest (as duly happened); three others have featured the same teams. That, I guess, is something of a shame for the appeal of the event.

Watcombe's four trophies have been described in the press as "unprecedented". That's been disputed on the South Devon Soccer Forum. Various old programmes talk of Upton Athletic winning the same four as Watcombe - plus the SDL's charity cup - in one season. There may even have been an occasion when Upton won everything bar the Devon Premier Cup. At the back of my mind I vaguely recall Upton achieving something extraordinary and, if you pushed me, I'd say that was in the mid to late 1970s. From what I can discover they won both the Herald Cup and the Devon Premier Cup in 1976/77. Perhaps that was the year.

It's not often I find myself saying "Come on you Greens!" but that was the case at Wall Park yesterday when Watcombe Wanderers went in search of completing the South Devon League season with a 100% record. They duly did so with an impressive 4-1 victory over a doughty Brixham side which has finished as runners-up to Watcombe on three occasions this season. Overall the game was slightly closer than the scoreline suggests but Watcombe possessed the proverbial "extra class". A fine hat trick too from Curtis Booth who Buckland Nick - Daz's mate - managed to call Curtis Woodhouse on a couple of occasions. There may have been a few pugilists residing near the Watcombe roundabout over the years but I don't think Mr Woodhouse is one of them.

My two well-informed sources yesterday told me that Watcombe actually won four-and-half trophies this season having shared the SDL's charity cup with Buckland Athletic reserves. That probably sounds less impressive than claiming the outright four. No bother they've done extraordinarily well and may have - and this is a wholly random claim based on nothing much at all - challenged Stoke Gabriel this season in the league above. Note too that Watcombe's reserve and third teams have just about won their respective divisions of the SDL.