The unofficial archives of Tiverton Town Football Club
Tiverton Town 5 - 1 Redditch UnitedSunday 08/10/2000 Southern League First Division | Nigel Davis |
It is always nice to right a wrong - and a year ago (well‚ October 23rd actually) Redditch came down to Ladysmead and blitzed us 5-3. We exacted a modicum of revenge by beating them 2-1 up at their place earlier this year (March 11th) but this victory was sweet indeed. The biggest disappointment was Redditch´s attitude which‚ I´m sure‚ stems from the bench. In the end (and this was still in the first half) the referee insisted that their manager confine himself to the dugout‚ such was the verbal emanating from his orifice. Redditch set their stall inside 40 seconds when Matt Hall went down as if he had been hit by a steamroller. In fact Jason Rees never touched him‚ but the ref was conned into booking the Welshman. As soon as this had been done‚ up jumped Hall to swerve in the free kick. A man rejuvenated after writhing around a few seconds earlier. The one high point in Redditch´s display came after nine minutes when a sweeping move saw Ian Bennett create his own space inside the box with a neat swerving turn culminating in a shot that beat Paul Edwards for the opening goal. Straight from the kick-off‚ Dave Toomey took on all and sundry before forcing Dave Adey into a fine save at the expense of a corner. And‚ two minutes later‚ Steve Daly hit the ball against the left-hand upright before‚ to everyone´s astonishment‚ Lee Knight hammered the ball into his own net for a classic own goal - and equaliser - on 12 minutes. Eight minutes on and Tivvy were ahead. Toomey intercepted a clearance before releasing Steve Daly. His shimmer bemused Adey allowing Dales to plant the ball into a vacant net for his first home competitive goal of the campaign. Toomey´s vision and workrate were a joy to behold and he revelled in this‚ his home debut. And he was not to be denied when the ball was swung over from a corner. Neil Saunders headed goalwards and‚ after the ball had been blocked on the line‚ Toomey squeezed it over to register his maiden Ladysmead goal. It wasn´t as good as his finish at Evesham but it was just as important. This strike came in the 34th minute‚ eight minutes after Richard Field had been booked for manhandling Phil Everett and two minutes before Everett himself was cautioned - for a foul on Stuart Hamilton. By my reckoning this was only his second booking of his illustrious Tivvy career - and his first at Ladysmead. Just before the break‚ Hamilton broke through and‚ had it not been for a timely intervention by Nick Marker‚ he could well have made it a nervy 3-2 at half-time. Fortunately‚ Marker´s block forced the ball out for a corner which led to nowt. Hall made way for lethal predator Nicky Cross at half-time but‚ for some reason‚ he - and the rest of the Redditch side - appeared to be just out to spoil. I lost count of the number of times Cross booted or threw the ball away after Tivvy had been awarded a free kick for a number of niggly fouls. Indeed‚ we only had two further minutes on the watch before their skipper Martyn Myers was booked for a foul. He was followed five and six minutes later by Hamilton and Bennett respectively - both for dissent. Redditch rarely shone in this half and it was Tivvy who had the majority of the attacking ideas. It was humorous to watch the antics of Kinght who was man-marking Everett. At one stage‚ at a corner‚ he was so intent on following Phil that he found himself facing away from the ball‚ arms aloft‚ doing an impression of a Dam Buster. I was most surprised that the Gold Army didn´t lurch into a chorus or two of one of their more humorous ditties on his behalf‚ but they spared his blushes. Adey was kept on his toes with shots from Toomey and Everett but the closest Tivvy came to extending their lead came from the boot of Toomey‚ however his shot was deflected wide by Scott Rogers. Two minutes later‚ Knight was substituted by Adam Nicholls and we lost one of the greatest impersonations of a donkey that we have witnessed for a while. Having been sent off against Atherstone a week ago‚ maybe it was done as a precaution. He was certainly walking a tightrope‚ having been spoken to on more than one occasion by the ref. A minute on from his departure‚ Dave Leonard and Scott Colcombe tussled over the ball with Lensy crashing to the floor. It looked as if the resultant mini-melee may lead to further flashes of the yellow card. This was not to be. He was saving it until later. In the 73rd minute‚ Phil Everett extended his scoring run to three in three games with a rasping shot into the roof of the net and‚ three minutes later‚ he made it 5-1‚ latching onto a through ball to lob Adey from the edge of the box. By this time‚ Steve Ovens had replaced Dave Toomey‚ whose debut was much appreciated by all and sundry. The 81st minute saw Cross at last find his way into the ref´s book. You guessed it. dissent. It was almost as if he had been begging the ref to book him from the moment he set foot on the park. Redditch´s lack of discipline was then completed three minutes later by Hamilton´s second caution of the game - again for dissent. As he trudged off to his early bath he took umbridge at the Tiverton bench and launched into Stuart Smith. Such was the kerfuffle you could have forgiven the referee if he had added a few more names but sanity prevailed and we saw out the final few minutes of the game in relative peace. This certainly was not a pretty performance by the visitors from the Midlands and we shall have to hope that things don´t boil over at their place on December 2nd. Now‚ Tivvy appear to be on a roll and‚ with Cinderford due on Wednesday night as the warm-up act for Saturday´s potentially epic FA Cup tie at home to Gloucester City‚ we are all champing at the bit to see the next game. It´s amazing how fortunes can change in such a small space of time. Long may it continue. Line up: 1 Paul Edwards‚ 2 Jamie Morrison-Hill, 3 Neil Saunders, 4 Paul Tatterton, 5 Nick Marker, 6 Scott Rogers, 7 Jason Rees, 8 Dave Toomey, 9 Phil Everett, 10 Steve Daly, 11 Dave Leonard, Subs: 12 Steve Ovens ( Dave Toomey 73), 14 Pete Conning, 15 Stuart Smith. REDDITCH UNITED 1 Dave Adey 2 Stuart Hamilton 3 Dominic Reece 4 Lee Knight 5 Leon Jackson 6 Richard Field 7 Matt Hall 8 Martyn Myers (c) 9 Paul Danks 10 Ian Bennett 11 Scott Colcombe 12 Adam Nicholls (for Lee Knight, 67m) 14 Mark Swann (for Scott Colcombe, 61) 15 Nicky Cross (for Matt Hall, half-time) |
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