TIVVY ARCHIVE

Tiverton Town 3 - 3 Salisbury

Steve Claridge must be sick of the sight of Tiverton Town's ground. In the previous two seasons his Salisbury side went away from the Yellows' ground with a two-nil defeat to mull over, and after roughly seventy minutes of his latest visit he would have been forgiven for thinking "finally" as his men led by two. However, the spirit within the new batch of Yellows saw them dig in and complete, what in all honesty seemed unlikely at the time: a brilliant comeback to leave the former Premier League forward still bereft of an away win at Ladysmead. Jordan Bastin was handed a place in the starting eleven at the expense of Olaf Koszela for the only change to those that had gone down at Taunton previously, while the Whites made three changes to the personnel that had beaten Yate by the odd goal in five last time out, which included a debut for the recently signed Luke Holmes from Wimborne.

Bastin justified his inclusion with the opener on eight minutes. A quickly taken River Allen free kick caught the Salisbury back line napping and Bastin sprinted through, rounded Smith and tapped in the opener. Only a disallowed Jordan Dyer effort and a superb Smith save to deny Man of the Match Jared Lewington stopped the Yellows from being further ahead, before Dan Fitchett drew the Whites level with a crisp, edge-of-the-area strike in the final knockings of the first half. A timely intervention from Dyer as he nipped in to prevent Toby Holmes, who had just come off the bench in place of Hippolyte-Patrick, preventedf the visitors taking an unlikely lead in with them at the break.

Salisbury seemed to be on course for all three points though, as they ramped up the pressure at the start of the second half, only an outstanding save from Williams denied Fitchett his second of the afternoon before a towering header from Darren Mullings from a Luke Holmes cross and a smart finish from full back Josh Sommerton after Toby Holmes had raced clear put them three one up with twenty minutes to go, and in all honesty that seemed to be that. Back came the Yellows though, and as he had on Bank Holiday Monday, Steve Colwell lit the comeback touch paper with his second in as many matches, as he swivel and fired into the top corner from twelve yards after Lewington had knocked down a cross on seventy-eight minutes. Michael Landricombe then headed home the equaliser from a River Allen corner which sent Ladysmead wild (and Claridge for that matter) five minutes from time.

Tiverton Town: Lewis Williams, Jordan Dyer, Noah Smerdon, George Nancekivell, Michael Landricombe, Jordan Bentley (Tyler Elliott 80), Steve Colwell, River Allen, Jared Lewington, Jordan Bastin, Chris Shephard (Olaf Koszela 47)
Goals: Bastin 8, Colwell 78, Landricombe 85

Attendance: 327