TIVVY ARCHIVE

Tiverton Town 0 - 1 Poole Town

When any good run of form come to an end there is obviously going to be the disappointment that goes with it, but to focus on the positives of the Yellows season thus far, had the management team been told they would be amongst the seasons front runners after twenty-odd matches, hands would definitely have been bitten off. On this occasion the Yellows ultimately came up short against Poole Town and the record of just one win over the Dolphins now stands at eight matches and what has the potential to be a concern is the fact that the normally free scoring Yellows have now failed to register in consecutive matches.

The home side, probably by their own admission, were below par in the first half and were indebted to Rhys Lovett, who had joined on a short term loan deal from Cheltenham Town on the previous day, made three or four excellent saves but he could nothing to prevent the visitors from taking the lead on thirty two minutes as a beautifully struck Will Spetch effort whistled past him for what turned out to be the only goal of the afternoon despite a late siege laid to the Poole Town goal.

Injuries are beginning to take their toll on the Yellows with several key (no pun intended) players missing and Michael Landricombe can probably be added to that list after hobbling off with what appeared to be a groin injury with less than an hour played. Ryan Beckinsale made his debut after joining from Slimbridge in place of Steve Colwell and Lovett deputised for the injured duo of Williams and Osborn. At the interval the visitors could have been over the hill and far away in terms of the score. Lovett brilliantly denied Marvin Brooks early on and then went on to deny Josh Leslie Smith a first half brace either side of the brilliant Spetch goal while Dolphins keeper Luke Cairney was nowhere near as busy, to put it mildly, although one smart save with his legs denied Beckinsale a debut goal.

The goalkeeping roles where somewhat reversed in the second half as Cairney became the busier of the two and he was one of the reasons that Poole came away with all three points. Tyler Elliott replaced the stricken Michael Landricombe and his first involvement was to dance around two defenders before Cairney denied him with an excellent block. With time running out the Yellows pushed higher and higher and with just four minutes left Cairney produced his best moment of the afternoon as he denied Bastin after he had been played through and when Cairney was beaten by a towering Michael Peck header in stoppage time at the end of the match, Jamie Whisken was on hand to hack the ball away to safety from off the line and condemn the hosts to a first defeat in seven matches.

Tiverton Town: Rhys Lovett, Pierce Mitchell, Noah Smerdon, George Nancekivell, Michael Landricombe (Tyler Elliott 57), Michael Peck, Ryan Beckinsale, River Allen, Alex Fletcher, Jordan Bastin, Chris Shephard

Attendance: 270