It's a 'dig deep situation' for the Ton after the weekend's home defeat

After last week's defeat in Cornwall, Honiton were keen to get things back on track as they welcomed near neighbours Wellington to Allhallows.

Hosting a lunch for sponsors Jewsons, there was a healthy crowd watching the game.

Wellington are seen as one of the strong sides in the league and like St Austell are already racking up points at the top of the league, so it was always going to be a tough ask for a result.

Honiton started proceeding by kicking off down into club house corner and they started very brightly applying a lot of pressure in the first few minutes but a penalty against the Ton saw the visitors clear their lines and from a good blind side break they ran in for the first try very much against the run of play.

Honiton must have been shell-shocked as from the restart, Wellington gathered and broke the defensive line again and their outside centre scored the second try and with only six minutes on the clock they were 12 points up.

Honiton regrouped and having won a penalty, Alex Brooks nudged the ball into clubhouse corner, the line out was secured and after a couple of strong phases it was Will Goulden who crashed over with a strong unstoppable drive and the deficit was reduced to 5-12 after 12 minutes.

It was then back to defending when Honiton were penalised for offside and Wellington kicked to the corner, they won the line out and after multiple phases of "pick and goes" on the goal line, they broke the Honiton defensive line to get another converted try and they were clearly in the driving seat at 5-19 with just shy of twenty minutes played.

Honiton's Tom Steer lined up a long range penalty from the halfway line and he was unlucky with the kick, as it struck the post but from the restart Honiton had a good passage of play and there was a least two decent chances of tries missed down the right hand side.

Things were just not going the home side's way and Ollie Cave then made a fine solo break and followed this up with a good clearing kick however the visitors fullback gathered and rather than kick to touch, he set of on a run through the middle of the park, avoiding tackles and he off loaded to the supporting flanker who dotted down for the bonus point score.

This try was converted and Honiton were reeling a 5-26 down. Honiton enjoyed some possession and territory towards the end of the first half but were unable to convert this in to points.

Whilst the half time score didn't necessarily reflect the general play of the half it was Wellington who had taken their chances well and they were clearly in the driving seat and with their turn to have the slope advantage things were looking very daunting for the Ton.

The second half got underway and with the restart also down came the rain. Honiton secured the kick off but two phases later the ball was knocked on and Wellington had a scrum in the Honiton twenty two, it was then their turn to spill the ball as the conditions made handling difficult for both sides.

Alex Brooks cleared up field only for the home side to concede another penalty and take any pressure off Wellington. Honiton did regain the ball and pressed the Wellington line but fumbled the ball just short.

The Ton were though able to keep the pressure on for the next ten minutes and whist getting several penalties awarded to them as Wellington were having to scramble in defence in the red zone, the Ton opted for scrums or kicks to the corner which despite them being within in easy kicking range, these decisions were understandable as they had to go for the tries given the score line.

The Wellington defence was battered and when the 5th penalty was conceded by Wellington in their twenty two the home fans were wondering if the referee had forgotten to bring his yellow card with him.

All the possession and territory again came to nothing and as with the first half, Wellington broke out in to the Honiton half through their left winger and there second row picked up from the ruck, found a gap and scored next to the posts, the conversion was missed and all the endeavour from the Ton was wasted.

The afternoon's gloom continued with Honiton losing influential prop Will Goulden through injury which just adds to an already lengthy injury list.

Wellington got over the whitewash again in the last five minutes. The try was converted and the score was now 5-38 to the away side. Honiton did keep going and Josh Rice got some consolation for the home supporters when he crashed over under the posts , Ollie Cave converted to make it a disappointing final score of 12-38.

All said and done, it was an entertaining game and the visitors showed their ability to soak up pressure and score on the counter attacks. Honiton's endeavours were commendable and the score line didn't fully reflect their part played in the game.

They will rue the chances missed in the first half and also not being able to convert the second half pressure that they applied but it's a tough league and the intensity of games is relentless.

Several played well for the Ton but it was Ollie Cave who was given the Ton's man of the match and he's having an impressive start to the season.

There is no let up at the moment as next week as it's a difficult trip up to third placed Bideford and with the injury list mounting it's a dig deep situation for the Ton.