TIVVY ARCHIVE

Elmore 0 - 4 Tiverton Town

Tiverton cruised past a determined but outclassed Elmore side to secure the Mills Hospital Cup at Horsdon Park as Dan Smith, Chris Wright and Matt Wright all scored their first goals for the club. By half time the Yellows were three goals ahead but it might have been very different had Elmore brought their shooting boot – James Blake lifted a shot over the crossbar and Matt Harvey hit the post for the Eagles who, although surrendering the bulk of the possession, did show plenty of willing and occasional spurts of inspiration.

Smith opened the scoring in the sixteenth minute with a fine curling effort from the edge of the area, and four minutes later Chris Wright headed in from Stephen Reed’s free kick to put Tivvy in command. Any hopes of a comeback by Elmore were distinguished as their two best chances of the game went begging, and Tom Gardner extended Town’s lead with a well-struck shot after Elmore failed to clear a Smith corner.

There was only one goal in the second half, Matt Wright converting after a good run and cross by Adam Carter, and although the winning margin could have been greater on another day (both Josh Searle and Carter had shots blocked on the line, while Joe Moore saved smartly from Reed, and both Reed and Smith clipped the crossbar) Elmore were far from disgraced. The hosts did, however, have to play much of the second half with ten men after Jesse Howe was shown a straight red card for a verbal attack on the referee, and that saw then pushed even further back later in the game.

Tiverton manager John Clarkson once again used the game to test out a variety of formations, set-ups and players; Steve Tully and Romain Larrieu started the game, Alex Faux made his first appearance of the summer and played the first half in his usual left-back slot before continuing after the break in central defence alongside John Heveran, and Tivvy played half the game with one striker then the next half with two up top and a system lopsided in favour of attacking down the left. The positive points were Smith’s showing in the first half, Reed’s impressive range of passing and his all-round conduction of tempo, and maybe less notably yet equally as important Jonathan Viscosi’s faultless distribution in the final half an hour when he became the third Tivvy goalkeeper of the evening. One small concern came when Adam Kelly pulled up with a tight hamstring after half an hour, but the injury isn’t serious and Kelly should be back in plenty of time for the opening competitive game of the season.

Tiverton Town: Romain Larrieu (Paul Hider 34 (Jonathan Viscosi 60)), Steve Tully (Alex Gray 46), Alex Faux, Adam Kelly (Josh Concanen 32), Matt Villis (John Heveran 46), Tom Gardner (Chris Long 46), Dan Smith (Matt Wright 46), Stephen Reed, Nick Rudge, Chris Wright (Adam Carter 46), Josh Searle (Sam Malsom 46)
Goals: Smith 16, Chris Wright 20, Gardner 29, Matt Wright 78