On a freezing cold night in Plymouth, Argyle nearly let this game slip after taking an early lead. Okehampton were missing some recent signings who are cup-tied and with a suspension and injuries were only able to field two players on the bench and the lack of fresh legs showed during extra time.
Argyle started off well and took the lead on 20 minutes when a lovely ball across the Elburton box from Luke Mortimore was superbly headed home by Morgan Reynolds. Okehampton continued to have the better of the play during the rest of the first half but the final ball often went astray and they were unable to add to their lead.
The second half saw the Okes start off well but they seemed reluctant to shoot and often lost possession in the Elburton box. They tended to resort to long passes out of defence and midfield instead of building up their attacking moves and the home defenders were dominant in the air. As the half went on, Elburton began to look dangerous and with five minutes left, they equalised after an excellent move saw Jordan Rundle give Aaron Dearing no chance with a tremendous finish.
So to extra time and with Argyle legs tiring, Elburton took the lead only 8 minutes in with a tremendous move and shot from Lewis Edwards. The home side now appeared to have the upper hand and the Okes had to dig deep. The second half of extra time saw Argyle begin to pressurise the home defence again and their reward came as the game was drawing to a close when Morgan Reynolds picked up the ball in the Elburton box, turned and smashed a tremendous shot into the roof of the net.
Now it was time for the penalty shoot-out and with Elburton only converting two of their first four kicks whereas Argyle had converted three through Luke Mortimore, Dale Chadwick and Morgan Reynolds, the pressure fell on Argyle’s Harvey Newman to try to win the game. He stepped up to blast home a tremendous shot to ensure Okehampton reached the semis.
The semi-final will be against Axminster Town and be played at 7.30pm at Bovey Tracey on Wed 29th March.
Next Saturday, Okehampton are at home to Newton Abbot Spurs with a 3pm kick-off.