Tiverton wrapped up successive league victories for the second time this season with a 3-1 triumph at Windsor & Eton. But there was a heavy black cloud hanging over Stag Meadow and it was confirmed shortly after the match that The Royals would not be contesting a winding up order when they appear in court on Wednesday. For Tivvy that means the points gained will be taken away, but importantly for the Yellows the league can’t take away a fine performance on an emotional day in Berkshire.
Tiverton started well and Russell Jee was the first to get a sight at goal but he could only turn Ian Sampson’s cross straight into the arms of Windsor goalkeeper Rob Bullivant. And the Yellows continued to put pressure on the home defence with a series of corners, one of which saw Tom Gardner’s header cleared off the line and then Liam Ellis planting the rebound just wide of the post.
There was little for the home support to get excited about and it looked as if the players had their minds on other matters as well, but Dwayne Lee did manage to scuff a half-volley well wide of Ryan Draper’s post on a rare attack.
With 22 minutes on the clock Tivvy finally broke the deadlock as a superb team move opened up the Windsor defence and left then watching on in admiration. Jee played a cheeky ball around the corner which David Steele read well and moved onto with a deceiving diagonal run. That first improvised pass took two home players out of the game and Steele’s early pass out wide to Sampson allowed the Tivvy winger in behind a third and forced the nearside centre back to be drawn wide. But Sampson didn’t wait until he was closed down, rather he curled in a cross to the far post that was the service that Joe Bushin thrives upon. Bullivant was beaten by the flight of Sampson’s cross, Bushin rose to head home from close range and Tiverton were on their way.
On the stroke of half time Ryan Bernard missed Windsor & Eton’s best chance of the game when he headed powerfully but too high having met Jake Parsons’ centre, and Jak Martin was cautioned for kicking the ball away after Alex Faux had committed a foul on the edge of the area.
Unsurprisingly Windsor & Eton kicked off the second half with tempo raised, heads down and a new-found vigour. For the best part of half an hour the hosts had the better of the game, more of the ball and gradually a rise in frustration levels and Town did as they had four days earlier and simply refused to budge.
Once again Gardner excelled while Ellis man-marked Michael Chennels – Windsor’s undoubted danger man – almost to complete anonymity. Ellis and Gardner were so much in control, with Kevin Hill in front of them calling upon his vast experience, that Steele was allowed a freer role in the middle of the park and his work rate when closing down higher up the pitch was key to keeping the Windsor players unsettled when in possession.
Both Chennels and Fiston Manuella missed the target from long range and Tivvy forces the home side to become an almost perfect replica of Hemel Hempstead from a few days earlier, while at the other end Bushin should have doubled his tally but somehow skied what should have been a routine finish to a free kick routing that left the Windsor defence static again.
However, the miss didn’t matter in the end as Bushin struck twice in four minutes to wrap things up. His and Tiverton’s second completed a move that he started by releasing Michael Nardiello in behind the defence. Bullivant stood up well to save when one-on-one but Bushin made up ground to gleefully tap home the rebound.
And more ponderous defending gifted possession to Steele near the corner flag, the midfielder being allowed to cross deep for Bushin to once again rise unchallenged at the far post and send a header past Bullivant. It was Bushin’s second hat-trick for the club and he was warmly applauded off the pitch with five minutes remaining, the goals a just reward for two fine individual performances in the past week.
Windsor & Eton pulled a goal back in the last minute, probably the final goal the club will score in their current guise, when Tom Collins was allowed to make ground and fire in a low shot from the edge of the area, and in added time Draper palmed Manuella’s long-range effort over the bar as Tivvy saw out time.
Windsor & Eton: Rob Bullivant (Nathan Silver 87), Leon Soloman, Chris Owens, Ryan Bernard, David Woozley, Michael Ewang (George Gould 58), Jake Parsons, Fiston Manuella, Dwayne Lee, Michael Chennels, Adam Bernard (Tom Collins 58)
Goal: Collins 89
Booked: Ewang 15, Ryan Bernard 49, Lee 59,
Sent off: None
Tiverton Town: Ryan Draper, Ian Sampson, Alex Faux, Kevin Hill, Liam Ellis, Tom Gardner, Jak Martin (Adam Faux 73), Russell Jee, Michael Nardiello, Joe Bushin (Adam Mortimer 85), David Steele (Ryan Leonard 88)
Goals: Bushin 22, 79, 83
Booked: Martin 41
Sent off: None
Attendance: 171
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