LISKEARD Athletic manager Darren Edwards made changes from the side that performed so poorly at Cullompton, and he was rewarded with a battling performance that saw his side beat Exmouth Town, 2-0, to earn a Throgmorton Cup quarter-final trip to Division One East leaders Liverton United.

Liverton boss Tony Bowker was at the game on Tuesday and might have been encouraged by the second-half display of Exmouth – who are challenging them for the East title – as the visitors enjoyed far more of the possession after the break after trailing by two goals at half-time.

Said Edwards: 'We knew that they would come at us after the break as they are a good side.

'I don't think they really threatened our goal although our defenders knew they had been in a game.

'Our performance tonight was spot on and we had a game plan that made us look more solid, and it wasn't until the last ten minutes that they really tore into us but we comfortably soaked that up.'

Liskeard started the tie strongly with assistant player-manager Karl Curtis seeing his 20-yard free-kick saved by visiting keeper Sandy Allen, who then made a fine diving save to turn Dean Smith's 18-yard drive around the post.

Exmouth fought back briefly, Jamie Moore shooting wide at the far post, before Kyle Bassett's effort from the edge of the area flew past the post.

Back came the Blues with a fine Matt Godfree through ball finding Joe Carey at the far post but his vicious volley crashed into Allen's midriff.

Demitri Kanakh then set up Richard Maddison to shoot from the edge of the area only for Allen to beat it out for a corner during a spell of pressure that ended with Liskeard taking a 35th-minute lead.

Curtis sent over the corner for Lewis Russell to head goalwards where fellow central defender Jamie Evans flicked it on, only to see Allen superbly tip the ball over the bar.

Curtis' ability to pick out his players from corners paid dividends on this occasion as again Russell rose to head goalwards, where Kanakh nipped in to force the ball over the line.

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