Post by Dave on Feb 26, 2022 8:53:07 GMT
Match Referee – Steve Luxon
Final Score Torquay Town 1st 1 Ivybridge Town 2nd 0
Match preview
Storm Eunice all but wiped out most of last weekends South Devon Football League cup and league matches. Those fixtures have been moved forward one week giving me the chance to cover the game I had planned to last weekend.
While Ivybridge 2nd plays in the premier division of the SDFL and Torquay Town 1st in the division 2, Town will really fancy their chances of progressing to the next round of the Herald Cup.
Torquay Town 1st currently sit at the top of the division 2 table unbeaten so far this season. That fact might change when the investigation by the Devon FA is complete over the abandonment of Towns away game against Ilsington Villa played on the 12th February. Town had four players sent off in the game and were losing by four goals to two when the match referee brought the game to a premature end.
Their record so far this season taken from the SDFL website, shows they are top of the table on thirty eight points after completing fourteen games, winning twelve of them and drawing two. They have scored a total of sixty five goals, conceded only fourteen giving them a plus fifty one goal difference.
Ivybridge Town 2nd sit in ninth place in the premier league on eleven points after playing fourteen games to date. They only have managed to win three games so far this season, drawn two and lost nine. They have scored a total of twenty six goals, conceded forty one giving them a minus fifteen goal difference.
How did both teams get here?
In the first round of the Herald Cup Torquay Town 1st were awarded a walkover against Liverton United Reserves on the 13th November. They beat Paignton Villa at home on the 22nd January by two goals to one.
Ivybridge Town 2nd beat Beesands Rovers from division two in the first round at home by four goals to nil. In the second round they faced a difficult away fixture against division two Waldon Athletic, but came away winning the game by one goal to nil.
Match Report
Torquay Town were missing at least eight of their first team players due to suspension and other reasons. They were forced to place their forty six year old man made mountain Craig Kendall in goal for them. A man so large he is able to touch the crossbar while flat footed and he did a first class job making two one on one saves and keeping a clean sheet. Torquay Town knew if they had any chance of winning this game they would have to work extra hard and play as a team and that is what they did.
Match referee Steve Luxon blew up for the start of the match and the first shot at goal in anger was from the edge of Torquay’s box By Ivy’s Ryan McNaught, he hit a good low shot but it went wide of the right hand post.
At this early stage of the game it was end to end and neither team were able to get on top. Torquay’s George Stahlmann fancied his chances from twenty yards out, but his shot was well held by Phil Knight in goal of Ivybridge.
Torquay were enjoying a good spell and forced three corners on the trot, but were unable to make anything from them. From a free kick out on the left hand side of the pitch, Curtis Booth got his head onto the ball that was played high into the Ivy box, but he was unable to get any real power on his header.
Ivybridge then had two chances on the trot to take the lead, Alex Henniker found himself in the right hand side of the Torquay box, but could not keep his shot down that ended up flying over the crossbar. Ryan McNaught also found himself in a similar position and shot low across the Torquay keeper and just wide of the left hand post.
Torquay won another corner and this time made it pay, the ball came into the box and was headed home by captain Mathew Waye. It was to prove to be a very important goal for his team.
Ivybridge were often passing the ball well, but could not find those killer passes for their front men which ended up in many shots being taken from outside the Torquay box. Ryan McNaught hit another shot from that position that also flew over the crossbar.
Torquay had a very big let off when their defence allowed Ivy’s Dan Ahearm to get in close in on goal completely unmarked and get his head on the ball from a cross from the right hand side of the pitch. The cross had goal written all over it, but Dan headed the ball downward and it bounced harmlessly past the right hand post.
That was it for the first half, Torquay were worthy of their first half lead, but a bit better finishing by the Ivy players and it could have been a different story.
The second half got underway and Torquay’s Curtis Booth was played into the Ivy box, but could not keep his shot down and had to watch it sail over the crossbar.
Ivybridge were now very much on top as they looked to get back onto level terms, but the Torquay defence stood big and strong. Ivy’s Josh Pelling was played into the left hand side of the Torquay box on a one on one with Torquay Keeper Craig Kendall. Craig came off his line and narrowed the angle before diving down and blocking the shot with his giant frame.
Torquay’s Kevin Orrell was the first player to be shown a yellow card; he hacked down a Ivy player who had just burst into the Torquay half. The Ivybridge forwards were getting desperate and hitting shots from anywhere outside the Torquay box. Alex Henniker hit a really wild effort that went well wide of the target.
Torquay’s Conor Preston allowed himself to get over wound up and came close to receiving a straight red card. Ivybridge had won a free kick on the half way line and Coner decided to stand right up close to the face of the kicker. He moved his head towards the Ivy players head but thankfully did not make any contact. Match referee Steve Luxon decided correctly a yellow card was sufficient punishment enough.
Torquay were reduced to the odd breakaway and I do not know how they did not make it two nil close to the end of the match. The ball fell kindly close in by the right had post to sub Simon Bracey. It looked an easy tap in but somehow his effort ended up being cleared off the goal line.
Ivybridge had two final efforts on goal, after a good run Tom Pelling hit a good shot from the edge of the box that went wide of the right hand post. Craig Kendall looked worried when Harrison Hardy hit a powerful low shot across him from just inside the right hand side of the Torquay box, the shot went inches wide of the left hand post.
Steven Luxon blew up for the end of the match. Even without many first choice players, Torquay were a good strong side that worked their socks off. As I left the ground my first thoughts were they reminded me of a good Upton Athletic side from days gone by.
Many thanks to match referee Steve Luxon for all his help today; he did a first class job in a tough tackling game that never looked like getting out of control with him in the middle. Well done to the Torquay Town players for a well deserved win and it was good to see there is still some life left in that forty six year old keeper on display today.
