The unofficial archives of Tiverton Town Football Club
Welling United 1 - 1 Tiverton TownSaturday 10/11/2001 Southern League Premier Division | John Reidy |
Ever since man first stood on his hind legs and ventured out of his cave he has been a wanderer. When he then invented the wheel (though some claim that it was such a clever thing that it must have been invented by a woman) he became a traveller‚ until he came to the sea. Then he found that wood floated‚ even though it was not until Archimedes cried ´Eureaka´ when he saw something floating in his bath‚ (he definitely wasn´t a woman)‚ that he quite understood why. Being able to cross the oceans the world became man´s oyster and soon Columbus‚ Cook and their likes had found every land worth finding and some that weren´t. With the atlas complete the only diversion for the committed traveller was the personal target. Walking to the South Pole‚ crossing the Sahara Desert on a milk float or climbing the worlds highest peaks. Modern day mountaneer‚ Chris Bonnington‚ when asked why he wanted to climb Everest‚ is alleged to have replied‚ "Because it´s there‚ because it´s there." It must be much the same motivation that drives the intrepid Yellows supporters that followed the team once more into darkest Kent. Why would anyone want to venture to Welling‚ particularly in view of the distances we have had to travel‚ and have still to travel‚ in the last couple of months? Because it´s there‚ and Tivvy are there. So we went‚ we saw but sadly we were unable to conquer. Never mind‚ at least the natives were friendly‚ some of the friendliest we´ve met all season. Re development of the Park View Road Stadium meant that one entire side of the ground was ´out of bounds´ and when the teams changed ends before kick off the Tivvy fans followed suit in relays in case anything startling happened as we passed behind the main stand. We need not have worried‚ nothing did. Welling mounted the first wave of attacks and pushed the Yellows back into their own half for five minutes. When the Devon men eventually found their way forward the move came to an abrupt pause on the edge of the Welling box‚ but it was only a pause as Tivvy were awarded a free kick right on the left hand corner of the area. Steve Winter came across from the right to hover over the ball. He took couple of paces and let fly. It wasn´t over the wall‚ it wasn´t round the wall‚ it was at the wall and through it. Sure it hit part of the blockade but it still ended up in the net which as far as Steve was concerned was the intention. One attack‚ one goal - pretty good strike rate but it was not to continue. A minute later it could have been 0-2 as Kevin Nancekivell failed to conect cleanly with Richard Pears´ low cross. With only six minutes gone the home side knew they had plenty of time‚ not to get back into the game for they´d dominated it so far. Off they went and laid seige to the Tivvy penalty area. One can´t really say laid seige to the Tivvy goal for they seldom got far enough to cause any problems for Paul Edwards between the posts. The persistant pressure was bound to reap results eventually and when Welling were awarded a free kick in a similar position to the one from which the Yellows had taken the lead‚ only ten yards further out‚ they made the most of it. The ball was swung in and Mike Rutherford met it cleanly with his head‚ giving Eddie little chance. Thirteen minutes gone‚ 1-1 and everything to play for. Town became more adventurous and the game became an end to end affair. There was a notable difference in style between the two sides. Welling were quicker‚ using long balls to feed their front men‚ who then proceeded to run at the visitors defenders. Tivvy´s build up was more laboured but they worked some nice moves to carry them forward. One thing was the same for both teams though‚ the defences were comfortably in control. It was not until the half hour mark that the next clear cut scoring chance was created and that fell to United. Dave Flemming‚ whose surging runs were one of Tivvy´s main problems caught Neil Saunders wrong footed‚ burst down the wing and sent in a low cross that found Steve Barnes at the far post. Luckily for the Yellows Barnes shot wide with the goal at his mercy. Kevin Nancekivell had a half chance when he neatly controlled a Winter cross but was ´body checked´ as he turned to shoot from just outside the six yard box. The first half was brought to an end by Nicky Marker heading into the ground and the ball bouncing way over the bar as the veteran central defender moved up for Tivvy´s second corner of the match. So it was back behind the stand to the other end‚ collecting the essential infusion on the way. From the restart it was plain that nothing much had changed. Either the half time pep talks hadn´t worked or the managers were happy with the way things were going. Welling continued to see most of the ball‚ Town looked more incisive when they moved forward. Steve Winter sent a shot high and wide and a minute later Eddie was beaten and ´Wints´ was in action at the other end as he cleared off the line as the ball crept just inside the upright. We had to wait until the 60th minute for the Yellows next penetration and again it came from Winter. Steve came through the middle‚ took a poke but didn´t connect as firmly as intended‚ and Glen Knight in the Welling goal was down to it. The fact that Steve had ´mishit´ the shot nearly beat the glovesman who failed to hold it and Richard Pears followed up but saw his effort deflected clear by the leg of an unsuspecting defender. The Wings introduced their first substitute in an effort to break the deadlock 20 minutes into the half and Eddie was called into action almost right away. Twice in a minute he had to get down to low shots. The first he smothered‚ the second was tipped round the post for a corner. Whilst it was the familliar ´long range´ viewing for the fans behind Knight´s goal‚ and the Yellows breaks were becoming more infrequent‚ there was a growing feeling that we´d seen the afternoon´s ration of goals. Jamie Mudge replaced Phil Everett for the last twenty minutes and showed the pace that he had shown on Wednesday but not the finishing. There were penalty appeals by both sides‚ firmly rejected by the referee‚ and there were chances at both ends. The best of Tivvy´s fell to Pears from a Dave Leonard cross and Mudge from a solo run. The home side had more but even the highly rated former ´Golden Boot´ winner Gary Abbott, who had been brought on for the final seventeen minutes, could not find the way through. So one goal each, one point each. Both teams had enough opportunities to have grabbed all three points but there was a suspision that few risks were being taken with next weekend´s cup ties looming. By the time we, the intrepid bunch of yellow clad travellers, left Welling we had discovered two new reasons for going there again. Firstly, to see what their new stand will be like: secondly because the natives were friendly. And, of course the other reason still stands - Because it´s there, and Tivvy are there. Tiverton Town: Paul Edwards, Steve Winter, Neil Saunders, Paul Tatterton, Nicky Marker, Scott Rogers, Kevin Nancekivell, Richard Pears, Phil Everett, David Steele, Dave Leonard. Subs: Paul Chenoweth, Antony Lynch, Jamie Mudge (Everett,71). Welling United: Glen Knight, Lew Watts, Peter Overton, Mark Hone, Russell Edwards, Scott Lindsey, Anthony Reviere, Mark Rutherford, Dave Flemming, Dave Powell, Steve Barnes. Subs: Gary Abbott (Reviere,73), Dean Standen (Overton,61), Sam Saunders (Powell,81). |
|