FINALLY, on their fifth meeting of the season, Tiverton Town managed a win against their Devon rivals.

Bideford bowed out of the Westinsure Devon St Luke's Cup with a 2-1 defeat to the Yellows at the Sports Ground on Tuesday night.

Having lost to Bideford in the league, the FA Cup and the Red Insure Cup, Tiverton did enough this time.

A disappointing quarter- final tie between two under-strength teams was decided by a 75th-minute goal from Michael Nardiello.

Last month, a bumper crowd witnessed ten yellow cards and one red card as a spiteful derby in the Evo-Stik League Southern ended in a 1-1 draw.

Only three players from each side remained from that occasion, proving that priorities lie elsewhere.

Bideford started brightly enough with Jamie Mudge and Billy Hopcroft, the former Barnstaple Town striker, leading the attack.

But Tiverton goalkeeper Chris Wright hardly had a save to warm his hands on a bitterly cold night.

As the visitors came into the game, Liam Ellis broke the deadlock three minutes before half time, his shot from the edge of the area taking a deflection to beat Paul Hider.

The Robins were badly missing their match-winners but the introduction of Matt Andrew gave them some spark soon after half time.

A typical dash into the area from Andrew drew a foul from Jee, which allowed Richard Groves to ram the equalising penalty into the roof of the net.

Andrew saw another snap-shot go just wide, while Dan Cayford was forced to head a shot from Nardiello off the line.

Cayford slipped at the vital moment, though, when Jules Emati Emati flicked on a long ball and Nardiello sprinted clear to slot Tiverton's second goal.

As Bideford pressed, Ian Sampson fired across goal and Andrew, stretching at the far post, could only drag the ball wide.

Another shot from Sampson that landed on the clubhouse roof seemed to sum up the home team's fortunes in front of goal.

Cayford then made another goalline clearance to deny Emati Emati and Bideford's last chance to equalise disappeared when Steve Orchard lobbed over.

Bideford manager Sean Joyce said: "Steve hasn't played for six or seven weeks.

"A sharper player who has been playing week in, week out would have brought that down and slotted it.

"It was practically a reserve game and you could tell."

There were plenty of players on both teams lacking sharpness.

On nights like this, the St Luke's Cup seems more like the Lukewarm Cup.

Matt Hockley broke the deadlock against Halesowen Town on Saturday with his seventh successful spot kick of the season for Bideford.

And Jamie Mudge struck three minutes from time for a 2-0 win that extended the Robins' unbeaten run in Evo-Stik League Southern to 17 games.

Paul Hider, making his league debut in the Bideford goal, was rarely troubled by a Halesowen team on a run of six successive defeats.

Ten minutes into the second half a Matt Andrew cross was handled by a defender and Hockley netted the penalty.

Halesowen had a man sent off for a wild challenge on Sean Downing before Mudge secured the points with a tap-in from Kevin Squire's break.