The Mitres started the half well getting a lot of possession in the Exmouth half however it was the hosts who had the first real chance when Merson Ham powered a free header wide.

Cleeve had a great chance shorty afterwards when Toby Soule’s cross found Ross Langworthy unmarked but the latter’s header was straight at the ‘keeper.

Exmouth then proceeded to have a good spell of pressure and perhaps should have taken the lead when the ball fell to Aarron Denny unmarked in the box but his shot was lofted well over before Ace High was another Exmouth player left unmarked to head inches over the bar.

Cleeve’s best chance came on the stroke of half time when Jay Malshanskyj forced a fine save from Christopher Wright in the Exmouth goal.

Early in the second half Langworthy looked to be clean through but the ref blew for offside which was probably against Jay Malshanskyj. Minutes later the hosts earned a penalty when Aaron Denny was fouled by Toby Soule with the Cleeve man receiving a straight red. Lewis Clayton made a good save from Joe Belston’s penalty but Belston was first to the rebound to give the hosts the lead.

Cleeve were down to nine men shortly afterwards when Toby Holland got a second yellow for dissent leaving the Mitres what looked an impossible task of salvaging something from the match.

Instead of letting their heads drop however this triple setback only seemed to spur the players on and only five minutes after going down to nine men the Mitres were back on level terms. Clayton played a long pass down the left to Langworthy who beat the defender and managed to curl the ball into the far top corner.

The work rate and defensive display shown from the entire team in the final half hour was a site to behold causing some Exmouth fans to shout ‘where are the two extra players’, although that’s not to say Exmouth didn’t have chances to seal a victory. Immediately after the equaliser Ben Steer was denied by a superb stop by Clayton before Tom Bath curled an effort just past the top corner.

The Mitres had a couple of chances from two freekicks and a ball whipped across the box by Malshanskyj before substitute Ed Scott was clattered from behind when he was bearing down on goal which proved to be the Mitres last chance to snatch what would have been an incredible win.

It was a nervy five minutes of stoppage time for the Mitres fans as Exmouth tried to break through the determined Mitres players’ defence. Exmouth looked as though they had when a cross into the box was met powerfully by the head of Bath but the ball went inches past the post. In the final play of the game the ball broke to Ham on the right but his shot was well blocked by Langworthy with the full time whistle going immediately afterwards to see the Mitres gain an extremely well deserved point.

After the match, Cleeve manager Collicutt was full of praise for the entire side saying “The lads, especially second half, have worked really really hard… I can’t knock the effort… everybody stepped up and showed a lot of team spirit”

Cleeve’s next match is away to Melksham on Saturday