The unofficial archives of Tiverton Town Football Club
Tiverton Town 1 - 1 King's LynnSaturday 08/09/2001 Southern League Premier Division | John Reidy |
This was a totally different Linnets side from the last one I saw play. Not one player remained from that squad and the way they fought their way to a point‚ albeit a hardly deserved one‚ showed that they had certainly improved. Hardly surprising things were different‚ though‚ from the previous occasion I witnessed the Norfolk side - it was 40 years ago and Lynn were losing 7-2 at home to Oxford United in my home town club´s final season before replacing Accrington Stanley in the Football League. I couldn´t honestly have expected a repeat of that 1961-2 season scoreline but following Tivvy´s fighting win at Merthyr there was an optimism among Town´s following that the bad times were behind us. Not entirely so as it turned out. Once again the Yellows contrived to shoot themselves in the foot by conceding a ´soft´ goal and leaving themselves with a mountain to climb to rescue a point from a game which‚ in all honesty‚ they should have had sewn up well before Lynn pounced on the defensive error. The line up was unchanged from Tuesday evenings victorious squad with once again the Pears/Ovens partnership being given the nod ahead of the Everett/Lynch pairing who shared the bench with David Steele. As appears to be normal at Ladymead these days it was the visitors who were first out of the trap and pushing Tivvy back into their own half‚ but unlike Weymouth and Crawley in previous weeks Lynn appeared to carry little threat. That was until the 5th minute when Kevin Nancekivell´s wayward pass was swept out to the Linnets right‚ carried deep into Tiverton territory and crossed in for the lively Zeke Rowe to send his shot inches past Paul Edwards´ right hand post. Eddie was in action again within the minute falling on another weak shot and starting the move from which Tiverton created their first meaningful attack. Richard Pears‚ starting where he left off last time out‚ chased a long ball down towards the left hand corner flag. It was a race between Steve Wilson in the Kings Lynn goal and the Tivvy man. Pears got there first‚ bundled the ball past Wilson and fired in a hard cross from the by-line. The cross was easily cleared by the Lynn defence but the strikers effort was not in vain as the beaten Wilson felled the Tivvy man in an attempt to stop him. It earned the Yellows a free kick just outside the penalty area and Wilson a yellow card. Paul Chenoweth hit the kick hard across the goalmouth but it was a visiting head that managed the slightest touch to deflect the ball for a throw‚ from which Steve Ovens fired into the side netting. And that was to be the story of the first half. Tiverton having just the better of things by virtue of creating more openings. More openings but not many chances. The best opportunity came in the 14th minute when Nancekivell was fed a precision through ball by Pears. For once Nance´s first touch was true as he bought the ball down and unleashed a screaming shot that thundered off the underside of the crossbar and out where the bounce beat Steve Ovens and allowed the defence to hack the ball clear. Lady luck was elsewhere again! Or maybe it was our own fault - if the goalposts had been square the ball would almost certainly have crossed the line as it ricocheted down. It seemed that it was only a matter of time before Town´s dominance would bare fruit. Ovens showed some unusual skill‚ bringing a high ball down behind him with his heel‚ turning and firing in a snap shot that though on target didn´t trouble Wilson. Then halfway through the first half Ovens was taken of the field with a cut head following a clash with Glen Fuff. There was no sign of moves to bring on a replacement and Tivvy continued to control things with ten men for the ten minutes until he returned. Steve Winter came to the fore and had a couple of chances and created one for Pears but though the shots were raining in they were all off target. Ovens‚ with heavy bandaging making him look like a virgin Sikh‚ returned to the fray only for Scot Rogers to be replaced by David Steele to make his long overdue Premier Division debut. Winters moved into midfield with the youngster slotting into the right wing back position that he aquitted himself so well in pre-season. The re- organisation disrupted Tivvy´s flow somewhat‚ the visitors enjoyed a purple patch until half time but still rarely looked like breaking the deadlock and were patently happy to go in at half time all square. The second half was more even and developed into quite a level battle. Still the Yellows looked more ambitious but also more nervous as the clock ticked on. Eight minutes in and Lynn did manage to force the ball into the Tivvy net but the whistle had already gone for a foul by an attacker in the goalmouth scramble. At the other end Nancekivell was through in the area with just one man to beat but failed to control the ball and the frustration of the fans behind the goal started to become vocal. Then with Lynn having introduced two sets of fresh legs the worst fears of those fans were realised. Quarter of an hour remaining and a long through ball fell in front of Paul Tatterton. Tatts failed to clear and one set of those fresh legs‚ those belonging to Lyndon Rowland‚ robbed him of the ball and left him sitting on the ground. Rowland only had to beat Edwards‚ which he comfortably did‚ to give Lynn the lead. Something had to be done. Lynch replaced Pears. Tivvy had 14 minutes to get something back. A free kick on the edge of the penalty are looked as if it might provide the equaliser as Steve Winter hovered over the ball. A similar kick to the one he scored with at Merthyr but this time two inches over the bar rather than Tuesday´s two inches under. 10 minutes left and a corner won on the left. Everett replaces the despondent Tatterton who trudges dejectedly to the dressing room. Before he´s out of sight the corner´s taken by Cheno. The ball was nodded away by a defender but only as far as David Steele lurking out on the right who whipped in a nearpost cross and Tiverton´s top scorer Anthony Lynch was there to divert it with the finest of headers past the keeper for a deserved equaliser. Tivvy poured forward in an effort to clinch the decider but it was not to be. There was a resigned feeling of relief at the final whistle. At least the run of home defeats had been halted. Now can we please stop giving away the silly goals? It´s a month until Tivvy next play a home game on a Saturday. Let´s hope that by then they´ve overcome the problem. If they haven´t then they´ll be deep in the mire . Tiverton Town: Paul Edwards‚ Steve Winter‚ Neil Saunders‚ Paul Tatterton‚ Nicky Marker‚ Scott Rogers‚ Kevin Nancekivell‚ Steve Ovens‚ Richard Pears‚ Paul Chenoweth‚ Dave Leonard. Subs: Phil Everett (Tatterton‚ 81)‚ 14.Anthony Lynch (Pears 76)‚ 15. David Steele (Rogers‚ 34). Kings Lynn: Steve Wilson‚ Simon Dakin‚ Jamie March‚ Dave Robinson(Capt.)‚ Glen Fuff‚ Steve Welsh‚ Tommy Wright‚ Adie Hayes, Zeke Rowe, Lee Hudson, Jason Minett, Subs: Louie Evans (Wright , 72), Jamie Clarke (Hudson, 76), Lyndon Rowland (Rowe, 66). |
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