TIVVY ARCHIVE

The unofficial archives of Tiverton Town Football Club


Gresley Rovers 0 - 1 Tiverton Town

Saturday 21/04/2001   Southern League First Division
Nigel Davis

What a weekend - with plenty of highs and lows.
A brilliant‚ if flukey‚ win at Gresley - tempered by Paul Tatterton´s injury that could see him out for the remainder of the campaign. Then the news‚ after the final whistle‚ that all our rivals - bar Hinckley and Mangotsfield - had lost. Hinckley´s victory put them within sight of the Western Division championship‚ but that particular part of the Midlands was split down the middle with the news that near neighbours Hednesford had been relegated from the Conference. Still‚ that would make a stonking couple of derby games - unless the powers that be decide that Hednesford should drop into the Unibond rather than the Dr Martens.
As to the game‚ well it was much ado about nothing with only the persistence of in-form Steve Ovens separating the sides as he refused to stop chasing a lost cause in the Gresley box in the 29th minute. Because of that he was there to block Carl Middleton´s attempted clearance and the ball canonned into the back of the net off his right hip/buttock. (To avoid guessing which part of his anatomy had been struck‚ I asked Ovo afterwards. Always best to get the inside track).
This breakthrough came six minutes after Paul Tatterton had hobbled off having sustained what looked like a knee ligament injury. If you are not sure how bad they can be‚ Micky Fallon can give you chapter and verse. Let´s hope it wasn´t as bad as was initially feared.
Stuart Smith took over and went some way to redeeming himself for his indiscretions at Mangotsfield.
Barely 60 seconds prior to Tivvy scoring‚ Kevin Nancekivell was fouled on the edge of the box. From where I was standing‚ the foul was committed inside yet‚ berts had been outwitted by Nance‚ only to hare after him and knock him over in the box‚ just a fraction of a second after the referee had turned his gaze away from the action.
So‚ maybe‚ the goal was just evening things up after all.
The goal seemed to settle Tivvy and‚ nine minutes later‚ Phil Everett was just unable to finish off a sparkling move involving Scott‚ Wints and Chens (back from injury‚ thankfully‚ although still a bit sore).
Come the second half‚ Gresley´s player/manager‚ John McGinlay (a former team-mate of Martyn Grimshaw in their Yeovil days)‚ came close to equalising at a corner in the 52nd minute. His header beat Stuart Smith but Paul Chenoweth was there on the line to clear.
With incidents few and far between as Tivvy closed up shop‚ it was left to substitute Richard Pears‚ on for Phil for the last dozen or so minutes‚ to release Steve Ovens. You would have laid odds on him scoring but Richard Gardner had other ideas and just managed to toe-poke the ball away for a corner whilst at full stretch.
Pete Conning was given a bare handful of minutes when he replaced Kevin Nancekivell as Tivvy kept the home side at bay to record one of their fastest (possibly the fastest) ever doubles having won 4-0 at Ladysmead nine days earlier.

Line up: 1 Paul Edwards‚ 2 Steve Winter‚ 3 Neil Saunders‚ 4 Paul Tatterton‚ 5 Nicky Marker‚ 6 Scott Rogers‚ 7 Kevin Nancekivell‚ 8 Steve Ovens‚ 9 Phil Everett‚ 10 Steve Daly‚ 11 Paul Chenoweth.

Subs: 12 Pete Conning (Kevin Nancekivell 88)‚ 14 Richard Pears (Phil Everett 78)‚ 15 Stuart Smith (Paul Tatterton 23)

GRESLEY ROVERS: 1 Mark Sheils‚ 2 Jamie Roberts‚ 3 Richard Gardner‚ 4 Mark Peters, 5 Andy Cheetham, 6 Carl Middleton, 7 Richard Wardle, 8 John McGinlay, 9 Simon Tucker, 10 Steve Coates, 11 Neil Broadhurst
Subs: 12 Matt Warren, 14 Neil Kitching (for Simon Tucker, 75m), 15 David Donaldson (for Mark Peters, 87m)

This report ©2001 Nigel Davis