TIVVY ARCHIVE

Tiverton Town 5 - 1 Hartley Wintney

The ying and yang of football. In arduous conditions on the previous Saturday, in a match bereft of much in the way of quality, the sides slugged out a one-all draw in the first ever meeting of the sides. In Tuesdays replay, however, the Yellows were simply too good for Hartley as they emphatically booked their place in the second qualifying round of the FA Trophy and a home tie against Wingate & Finchley on Saturday 10th November. Three goals to the good inside twenty-five minutes, thanks to a thirteen minute hat-trick from Man of the Match Levi Landricombe, was added to by a brace from Tom Bath and arguably their best footballing performance of the season thus far while the visitors consolation came from the same player who had opened the scoring in the original fixture, Michael Campbell.

An unchanged Yellows line-up, apart from George Rogers replacing the departed Ethan Phillips amongst the substitutes, was a real show of faith in the team from manager Martyn Rogers bearing in mind their last win was back at the start of the month, a two-one win over Barnstaple Town, some eight matches ago while the visitors made three change from the original fixtures, captain Nic Ciardini, Liam Eagle and Romario Hart replaced Nick Hutchings, Tyron Smith and Josh Webb.

In all honesty, had the Yellows scored five in the first half there could have been little in the way of complaints from the visitors such was the Yellows dominance early on. Levi Landricombe, who by his own admissions had not been firing on all cylinders recently, could have scored twice before he did find the back of the net on eight minutes, heading wide a Josh Key delivery in the first and rattling an upright with a curling shot from the edge of the area soon after before he headed home a Nick Hurst cross, after a delightful cross field ball from Jordan Rogers, from six yards out. Barely time to draw breath before he was at it again, this time his shot from the edge of the area, not the sweetest strike ever, squirmed through the grasp of Adam Desbois and nestled in the corner and two became three on twenty-one minutes when he raced onto a long through ball from Jamie Price and he smashed home from close range.

Michael Campbell, who opened the scoring in the first tie, thought he had got Hartley back in the tie five minutes later when he reacted quickest to a through ball and prodded home, too quick for the liking of the official who flagged him offside but lessons had not been learned by the Yellows backline and Campbell repeated the feat on thirty-two minutes, this time no flag, the goal stood and a foot-hold in the match. Unfortunately, though, from a Hartley point of view, that was Campbells last involvement as he was replaced by forward Rowan Vine, Campbell clearly in considerable discomfort as he left the field. More chances came and went for the Yellows to extend their lead heading towards the interval before Tom Bath scored a superb fourth in first half stoppage time, when he received the ball from Hurst, turned inside from the left and smacked an unstoppable drive in to the top corner from the edge of the area, leaving Desbois grasping at thin air.

The second half was barely sixty seconds old when the scoring was completed as the first half goal scorers combined, Levi Landricombes pass behind static Hartley defenders found Bath in all sorts of space and a simple finish from close range gave him his second and the Yellows fifth of the evening. The remaining minutes, and plenty of them, were not far short of a footballing procession as the visitors could not find a way past the resolute Yellows backline such was their dominance and control and eventually the Yellows could celebrate their passage to the next round of the competition and a home tie, for what will be a first ever meeting of the sides, against Wingate & Finchley.

Tiverton Town: Liam Armstrong, Josh Key (Callum Hall 49), Nick Hurst, Jamie Price, Ben Mammola, Michael Landricombe, Harrison Davis, Max Smallcombe, Tom Bath (Joel Randall 69), Levi Landricombe (Jack Rice-Lethaby 76), Jordan Rogers
Goals: Levi Landricombe 8, 10, 21 Tom Bath 45, 46

Attendance: 148