The unofficial archives of Tiverton Town Football Club
Tiverton Town 0 - 1 Plymouth ArgyleMonday 14/07/2008 Friendly | Tivvy Archive |
Game number two of the summer passed on Monday evening, and once again an ebullient Tiverton Town side came out of the encounter with a great deal of credit, despite losing by a single goal to Plymouth Argyle. Luke Summerfield scored the only goal of the game after a neat Argyle move on the half-hour, but the Yellows gave as good as they got for much of the game, and might consider themselves a touch unfortunate that they didn’t find an equaliser. Under full cloud cover it was the hosts that came out the quickest, and Jamie Densham’s persistence won the first corner of the match after five minutes, his refusal to give up the cause forcing Marcel Seip to bundle the ball behind. The opportunity amounted to nothing as the onenamed Lubos in the Plymouth goal took a clean catch, and then repeated the feat five minutes later after Gary Sawyer was forced to head Chris Vinnicombe’s free kick over his own bar. Tivvy continued to make the running and Bobby Hopkinson shot straight at Lubos after some fine interplay between Densham and his new strike partner Lawrence Yiga, the same man who missed a penalty for Torquay at Ladysmead two days earlier. Yiga created problems with his aerial ability but neither Densham not any of the three Town midfielders were able to capitalise on his numerous flick-ons, and gradually the Championship Club found their feet on the lush turf and began to exert some authority on the game. That authority almost led to a goal as Jamie Mackie raced into the box only to be felled by lumberjack Aaron Pugh, with the referee having no hesitation in awarding a penalty kick. However, for the second time in three days Tivvy shotstopper Pierre Martini saved the blushes of his defenders with a diving stop, leaving only Steve MacLean with a red face. Martini once again looked assured as he fights for a deal with Yeovil Town, and would have pleased the fashion police too having binned his Orange kit for a more orthodox sky blue outfit. Argyle forced that change having rejected their tradition dark green for an eyesore orange, and Mackie was beginning to look colourful as he fired a shot that deflected off Tom Gardner’s back and out for a corner. And after a solid ten minutes of forward momentum Argyle finally grabbed the opening goal as Summerfield burst through to fire a powerful low shot beyond Martini’s outstretched right hand and into the bottom corner of the net. Rory Fallon couldn’t emulate his teammate and his low drive was superbly saved by Martini while at the other end Yiga struck an effort straight at Lubos, and Glenn Gould almost fluked an equaliser with a bobbling shot that the Plymouth ‘keeper needed two bites at. The visitors made ten half-time changes, Tivvy none, but Argyle were on top for much of the remainder of the game. With Mike Booth returning to action just past the hour mark the Ladysmead crown was enthused and Booth almost made the perfect comeback but could only hook an awkward volley over the crossbar after Gardner had headed down Hopkinson’s mammoth throw-in. Tiverton did have the ball in the net with a little over twenty minutes remaining, but Densham’s fine glancing header was ruled out by the over-zealous linesman (who just so happens to be refereeing today’s game!), and with Lala’s shot bobbling out for a throw-in at the opposite end of the pitch and Tiverton making four further changes so the game faded away as is the norm with pre-season matches. Tiverton Town: Pierre Martini; Adam Faux, Chris Vinnicombe (Ross Carstairs 82), Matt Villis (Brendan O’Boyle 82), Aaron Pugh, Tom Gardner, Glenn Gould (Alex Faux 82), Bobby Hopkinson, Jamie Densham (Joe Allinson 82), Mark Saunders (Mike Booth 64), Lawrence Yiga Plymouth Argyle: Lubos; Duguid (Clarke 46), Sawyer (Barnes 46), White (Patterson 46), Seip (Lala 46), Mohammed, Rahim (Puncheon 46), MacLean (Easter 46), Summerfield (Folly 46), Mackie (Hodgkinson 46), Fallon (Brett 46) |
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