TIVVY ARCHIVE

Hereford 2 - 1 Tiverton Town

The Yellows fell to a second successive league defeat at a fully packed Edgar Street after John Mills scored a hotly disputed penalty and Pablo Haysham's fine volley gave the hosts a seemingly comfortable lead, although Man of the Match Tom Gardner reduced the deficit before half time with his first goal for almost two years, and try as they did in the second half, Tivvy could not find the equaliser that would have been just reward for their efforts.

The Bulls forward pair of Mills and Haysham combined, as they have done numerous times this season, to give the hosts the lead although this time with more than a sniff of injustice. Haysham raced onto a through ball and went to ground with Steve Kingdon in close proximity, and, to the bemusement of all in yellow, the referee pointed to the spot and Mills despatched the kick for his 24th of the campaign.

Whilst there was much debate, even amongst home supporters, about the validity of their first, there was none about their second. Tom Bath's miscontrol sat up invitingly and Haysham half volleyed a beauty in to the top corner from fully 25 yards to almost put the game to bed before a third of the match had passed. That said though, Tivvy had had openings. Jamie Short had raced away only no-one had kept up and his cross was cleared and Short released Levi Landricombe whose heels were clipped as he was about to sprint clear, but not in the eyes of the officials.

Gardner's last competitive goal came in a 3-0 win over Wimborne in February 2015 but he wiped out that statistic six minutes before half time. He volleyed home from close range after Bath's knock down had caused chaos in the hosts penalty area much to the delight of the 70 odd fans who had made the trek to Herefordshire, and the same said fans were almost delerious minutes later as Jamie Price got on the end of Joe Perrys huge clearance but Price leant back and skied his shot as defenders closed him down.

Hereford's home form has seen only Didcot and Taunton come away from Edgar Street with any points this season and Tivvy can count themselves unfortunate to have not added themselves to that list. The stand-out chance to grab a point in the second period fell to Bath, after Price's industry got him to the byline, he crossed to Bath and with the goal at his mercy he found the arms of Bulls keeper Harris rather than the back of the net. Hereford had late chances to cement their victory as Tivvy pressed higher but no additions were made and they held on for another  three points as they close in on their second successive league title.

Tiverton Town: Joe Perry, Jamie Price, Nick Hurst, Ben Mammola (Ben Carter 64), Steve Kingdon (Teigan Rosenquest 84), Tom Gardner, Jamie Short, Rob Norrish (Scott Rogers 77), Levi Landricombe, Michael Landricombe
Goal: Gardner 39

Attendance: 3,049