TIVVY ARCHIVE

Salisbury 0 - 2 Tiverton Town

Without too many references to a previous 2-0 win for Town at the RayMac stadium some four-and-a-bit years ago, when the FA Cup draw was made and an away trip to Salisbury was announced, like myself, I'm sure many feared the worst before even a ball was kicked, especially after last year's visit in the FA Trophy, when the Yellows lost 6-0 to a side that was bang in form.

Tiverton had several injuries to contend with and also two players, Woodman and Warren missing through suspension, so Neil Martin and Theo Simpson returned to the starting eleven and new signing Lennie Pegg was part of the squad.

It's fair to say that the first half an hour was fairly uneventful, with no more than a few half chances falling to both sides, the hosts coming closest to breaking the deadlock when the Yellows back line was beaten with a deflection but Tom Blair, when through on goal, was superbly denied by Williams.

Blair was quickly back in the action again moments later, but for the wrong reasons this time, when he was invited to take an early shower after a pretty gruesome challenge on Yellows captain for the day Aaron Dawson and the referee was left with little choice other than to show a straight red to the former Dorchester forward.

Six minutes before half time (the exact same time that Michael Landricombe opened the scoring in THAT match) the Yellows fashioned their closest opportunity to registering after an outstanding flick by eventual opening goal scorer Matt Wright set Olaf Koszela free but the in-form striker's run was brought to a premature end with the linesman's flag correctly raised for offside. Eventually, after three minutes of stoppage time, the half time whistle was blown for both sides to re-group.

The Yellows got the second half underway but still seemed to struggle to make their numerical superiority count, wand maybe even the hosts could have taken the lead eleven minutes into the half: Marvin Brooks was played through on goal with only Lewis Williams to beat but the Yellows goalkeeper managed to scramble the ball away from his feet.

Just before the hour, new signing Pegg was introduced in place of Simpson and comfortably played the ball in midfield, passing simply which quickly spread calm throughout a so far frustrated Town team. The Yellows continued to press and started to find confidence as opportunities started to present themselves. Matt Wright fizzed a ball across the box but Koszela was just unable to reach it and provide the decisive touch.

With eight minutes to go and a replay on Wednesday at the Ian Moorcroft Stadium looking more than likely, Man of the Match Joe Belsten had clearly not read that part of the script and his cross from the right found Wright, fresh from his brace at Weston last time out and he calmly slotted the Yellows in front for his third goal in two games.

The Yellows weren't done though and when Tiverton won a corner Dan Hayfield, who got better and better as the game continued, delivered a superb cross to find Koszela at the back post who nodded in Tiverton's second and secured a hard-fought win for Tiverton, nothing more than they deserved based upon their second half performance, and with that a place in the second qualifying round of the FA Cup.

Salisbury: Marcus Beauchamp, Charlie Davis, Ben Starr, Ollie Knowles, Sam Roberts, Charlie Kennedy, Tom Blair, Darren Mullings (Dan Fitchett 86), Sam Ashton (Harry Baker 69), Marvin Brooks (Josh Wakefield 63), Antonio Diaz
Booked: None
Sent off: Blair 35

Tiverton Town: Lewis Williams, Joe Belsten, Neil Martin, Aaron Dawson, Austen Booth, Louis Morison (Isaac McCue 90), Jordan Lam, Dan Hayfield, Matt Wright, Olaf Koszela, Theo Simpson (Lennie Pegg 58)
Goals: Wright 82, Koszela 87
Booked: Booth, Martin
Sent off: None

Attendance: 399