TIVVY ARCHIVE

The unofficial archives of Tiverton Town Football Club


Tiverton Town 2 - 4 Bristol Manor Farm

Saturday 21/09/2019   FA Cup
Simon Ellis

Win, lose or draw the Yellows effort for the cause can never be brought in to question, but on this occasion they were the masters of their own downfall as Bristol Manor Farm tore up the form book and sealed their place in the Third Qualifying round of the FA Cup with an excellent performance and well-earned victory as the Yellows, who had not shipped four goals at home since Bideford racked up five back in November 2018 in a Southern League Cup tie, were a shadow of the side that had beaten Merthyr Town one-nil in midweek.

Three matches in a week had clearly taken its toll on the Yellows as the visitors flew out of the traps and Lewis Bamford and Jamie Bird put them two goals to the good before inside eight minutes before Josh Key got the Yellows back in to contention with his first of the season ten minutes from the interval before a superb goal from Bird put the visitors two ahead again after the break. Jordan Dyer headed home his second of the season again to spark hopes of a revival eighteen minutes from time but a defensive error just three minutes later allowed substitute Joe Tumelty to send the visitors through to the next round.

Again the Yellows fielded an unchanged starting eleven with the thought process of why change a winning side but fatigued players were clearly part of the problem while the visitors welcomed former Yellows striker Jordan Rogers back into their side, which also contained former captain Steve Kingdon and midfielder Jay Adams. As disastrous starts go this was right up there. From kick off, which the Yellows took for the record, the visitors took the lead with less than thirty seconds on the clock.

The returning Rogers got past Bentley down the Manor Farm left, drilled over a low cross and Bamford gambled at the back post and was on hand to tap in the opening goal and before eight minutes had registered Jamie Bird fired home the second from the edge of the area after a corner had not been properly dealt with. The shell-shocked Yellows were almost instantly back in the match though as Tyler Elliott sent Lewington in on goal but Ben John made a fine save to keep the lead at two. The longer the half wore on though, the more it looked likely the Yellows would get back in the contest and eventually Josh Key smacked home a beauty from twenty-five yards ten minutes before the break and Jared Lewington was millimetres from drawing the sides level in first half stoppage time as his header from a George Nancekivell cross crashed back in to play off the crossbar.

As bad as the start to the match was, lessons had not really been learnt as the start to the second half wasn`t a great deal better. Another shot on goal straight from kick-off had to be smartly dealt with by Williams and just six minutes later the visitors led by two again as another corner was not properly cleared, although Williams appeared to be fouled in the build-up but Jamie Bird curled in his second of the afternoon with a beauty that crashed in off the far post. Again the Yellows battled for a way back in to the contest and eighteen minutes from time they seemed to have done just that as Jordan Dyer headed home from River Allen's free kick but more defensively frailty undid them just three minutes later as an under-hit back pass allowed substitute Joe Tumelty to nip in and seal a well-deserved victory.


Tiverton Town: Lewis Williams, Jordan Bentley (Steve Colwell 55), Noah Smerdon, George Nancekivell, Michael Landricombe, Jordan Dyer, Josh Key, River Allen, Jared Lewington, Jordan Bastin, Tyler Elliott
Goals: Key 35, Dyer 72

Attendance: 241


This report ©2019 Simon Ellis