TIVVY ARCHIVE

The unofficial archives of Tiverton Town Football Club


Tiverton Town 1 - 3 Gloucester City

Saturday 14/10/2000   FA Cup
Nigel Davis

It felt as if Redditch had left their mark on the Tivvy team. All the indiscipline we had witnessed from them the previous Sunday suddenly manifested itself within the Tivvy ranks and‚ to be honest‚ we lost the plot. No matter how frustrating some of the decisions appeared to be‚ there was little that referee Janie Frampton (nee Corben) and/or her assistants missed. But the biggest problem stemmed from the ludicrous timewasting tactics that epitomised Gloucester´s game plan. The ref seemed to be a tad out of her depth as time and time again she would spot an incident‚ react to it and then‚ sometimes 30 seconds or a minute later remember to stop her watch. Consequently we had just two and a quarter minutes added on at the end of the first half for blatant timewasting‚ numerous treatments by the physios and four bookings - two of which took the best part of two minutes to sort out. Yet it all started so brightly‚ with Tivvy launching attack after attack. The front pair of Steve Ovens and Phil Everett peppered the Gloucester goal and twice Grantley Dicks had to fly-hack the ball away for a corner as Tivvy´s pressure began to tell. Goalkeeper Ryan Gannaway was being hurried into punching the ball away and it just looked like a matter of time before the Ladysmead hordes could rejoice at a goal. But it was not to be. Jason Rees was penalised for a foul in the opening couple of minutes and this sparked off the first of many heated “discussions” between him and the referee. This was to culminate in a straight red in the final minutes of the game but he was fortunate to have lasted that long. If only he had concentrated on his game instead of confronting her at most decisions - the majority of which had nothing to do with him. It all tended to detract from what was‚ in fact‚ a cracking cup tie. Take Steve Ovens´ rampaging run that sliced through the visitor´s defence on 20 minutes‚ culminating in a superb shot that was well saved by Gannaway for a corner. Then‚ two minutes later‚ Gloucester´s first real attempt on goal came from the head of Andy Tucker - but it was just wide.
We than had a Jason Rees free kick hit the underside of the bar before being cleared. This came after a 28th minute obstruction on Dave Leonard‚ indicated by the ref´s raised arm. Following lengthy treatment‚ Rees took the free kick. Unfortunately the ref failed to place her arm up in the air to remind everyone that it was indirect and one wonders what would have been her decision had the ball actually gone in the net. She was already looking out of her depth.
Then‚ a couple of minutes later‚ Gloucester´s skipper Wayne Thorne went down like a sack of potatoes as Steve Daly came away with the ball. Not for the first time would the visitors try to con the referee into awarding a free kick on the edge of the box. Most of their attempts were somewhat blatant but they succeeded in fooling her with this one. And you could see why they were so keen on gaining these set pieces. What a cracker of a shot! Matt Rawlins steered a howitzer towards the far post and‚ with just Paul Edwards guarding the line‚ he had no chance to intercept it - and Gloucester were ahead. A minute later‚ Kacey Johnstone was booked for a foul on Dave Leonard and‚ three minutes later‚ there was another tussle between the two of them that‚ after a couple of minutes of whistle blowing and lecturing‚ culminated in Paul Tatterton being booked for dissent followed by the name of Dave Leonard being added to her fast-increasing list. What she failed to act upon was the punch on Leonard´s back by Johnstone that should have led to his banishment.
The game crept into the first minute of injury time and Tiverton conceded a calamitous goal. A misdirected back pass from Tatterton left Edwards and Rawlins racing for the ball. Rawlins got a toe to it as Edwards seemed to shy away from a challenge and it was 2-0 to Gloucester. Nick Marker then talked himself into the book and Rawlins injured himself in his celebrations but these didn´t mean that Tivvy would have enough time to get back into the game. As soon as they kicked off‚ the whistle blew for half-time. Martyn Rogers was incensed that there were not the five or so extra minutes that the referee should have added on for the plethora of stoppages and the timewasting that she appeared to acknowledge and this‚ plus a couple of comments from Tivvy fans that Johnstone was lucky to be on the park‚ led to Mrs Frampton losing her cool and storming out of her dressing room at half-time‚ threatening to report people for their comments. She had to be persuaded back in by one of her assistants. As I said before‚ she looked out of her depth.
Half-time saw the emergence of Stuart Smith‚ replacing Paul Tatterton. Gloucester should have gone 3-0 up inside eight minutes when Gary Marshall had an open goal at his mercy. Fortunately he miscued his shot and Neil Saunders nipped in to clear up. A minute later‚ Rees was booked for a foul. Sixty seconds later‚ Thorne committed just as bad a foul on Rees but he wasn´t booked. You got the feeling that Rees´ earlier indiscretions with the ref had weighed against him whereas Thorne‚ who had been persistently encroaching at free kicks (more time-wasting tactics???) as well as committing a number of petty fouls‚ was seen as being more of a saint than a sinner. He was soon to get his come-uppance. After 61 minutes it looked as if Tivvy should have been awarded a penalty as first Steve Ovens was grabbed around the shoulder and then brought to the ground in a tackle - but no foul was given. Three minutes later‚ Thorne became the sixth to be booked when he tussled with Scott Rogers. This led to an unsightly melee in which Rogers´ opposite number‚ Will Steadman‚ raced 30 or so yards to crash into him. Again‚ this went unnoticed by the ref otherwise‚ surely‚ he would have been off. In the 66th minute‚ Tivvy´s relentless pressure finally paid off when Phil Everett rose to head home despite Thorne being handily placed to stop the ball on the line. This was Everett´s fourth match on the trot in which he had scored‚ but it was not enough to save the tie. Four minutes later‚ Ovens was through on goal but he just failed to control the ball before Gannaway managed to flop on it. In the 77th minute Gloucester hit the woodwork from a cross with Edwards left flapping thin air and, typical of the end-to-end nature of the game, Tivvy came straight back and Ovens was again upended in the box. Quite rightly, obstruction was the verdict but the decision did nothing to endear the Gold Army to the ref´s cause.
In a final attempt to squeeze an equaliser, right-back Jamie Morrison-Hill was replaced by Pete Varley. Tivvy certainly had enough opportunities. However, their luck - or lack of it - was epitomised by, not once but twice, the ball squeezing between Nick Marker´s thighs as he was poised to shoot. And, more often than not, Tivvy forwards got in each other´s way as they tried to force the ball home. Four minutes into injury time, with Gloucester on the break, it looked as if Tivvy had cleared the danger. However, the linesman raised his flag above his head. To some it looked as if he were indicating a substitution. Yours truly feared the worst. Jason Rees said something to the ref and he was already walking by the time she had raised the red card. Following a discussion with her assistant, a penalty was awarded (it was what he had been attempting to indicate) and Karl Bayliss ensured that yours truly witnessed his first competitive Tivvy defeat of the season. At the final whistle, Gary Marshall riled the Tivvy crowd behind Gannaway´s goal by smashing the ball into them and stewards, plus a couple of Tivvy players, had to persuade a handful of Tivvy fans back behind the perimeter wall after they raced on to the pitch to confront the Gloucester forward. It has to be said that Gloucester made few friends today. The two teams next meet in Gloucester on January 1st. I can´t see it being a particularly happy New Year if any of the incidents of today are repeated. One thing is certain, it won´t be Mrs Frampton in charge. She has only just been promoted from the Western League line to the middle. She is not a Southern League ref. So it is back to the bread and butter and Tivvy will need to pick themselves up because the next game couldn´t be harder. Hinckley United are the visitors next Saturday...

Line up: 1. Paul Edwards, 2. Jamie Morrison-Hill, 3. Neil Saunders, 4. Paul Tatterton, 5. Nicky Marker,
6. Scott Rogers, 7. Jason Rees, 8. Steve Ovens, 9. Phil Everett, 10. Steve Daly, 11. Dave Leonard,

Subs: 12. Pete Conning, 14. Pete Varley Jamie Morrison-Hill, 15. Luke Vinnicombe, 16. Stuart Smith (for Paul Tatterton, half-time). 17. Martyn Grimshaw.

GLOUCESTER CITY: 1 Ryan Gannaway 2 Kacey Johnstone 3 Grantley Dicks 4 Richard Moore 5 Mark Abbott 6 Will Steadman 7 Andy Ticker 8 Wayne Thorne (captain) 9 Matt Rawlins 10 Karl Bayliss 11 Gary Marshall
12 Kwesi Cairns 14 John Meadows 15 Steve Jenkins 16 Jimmy Cox (for Matt Rawlins 82) 17/gk Ally Hines

This report ©2000 Nigel Davis