TIVVY ARCHIVE

Willand Rovers 5 - 1 Tiverton Town

By making eight changes to the starting line-up, it was to be expected that Tiverton would seem rather disjointed, but the ease with which Willand carved through the Yellows’ defence was perhaps more than most would have anticipated. Tivvy lined up in an approximation of a 3-4-3 system, with Isaac McCue playing behind a front pairing of Theo Simpson and Andy Watkins, while Lloyd Beech was brought into the defence for a debut he will be keen to forget. Elsewhere, Jimmy Weeks made his first start for the club with the gloves, and Bradley Riggs partnered Lennie Pegg in the heart of midfield.

The home side were ahead within five minutes or so when a near post corner was guided past Weeks by Ryan Guppy, and Willand went on to dominate the first half, cutting through the Tiverton defence with ease and devastating conviction. The home side’s second goal may have been fortunate, but deserved on the balance of play: Will Richards’ shot taking a significant deflection on it’s way into the top corner. Two became three in the 34th minute, credited officially to Alfie Moulden, but helped into the net as a sea of Yellow shirts failed to clear the ball, with the final touch coming off Beech by the post. And before half time Moulden added a fourth for Rovers, definitely his goal this time, and that was effectively the end of the match as a contest.

Tiverton introduced Jordan Lam for the second half, and he helped inject an element of pace and urgency to the Yellows’ game, looking more lively that any of his colleagues had done to that point. It was indeed Town who were next to register as McCue was upended in the box and Watkins stroked in from the penalty spot. But any hopes of an unlikely comeback failed to develop, with Lam departing through injury, and Willand added a fifth goal to wrap up a comfortable victory as they once again played consummately through the Tivvy backline, leaving Stuart Bowker to slide the ball past Weeks five minutes from the end.

Aside from the obvious disappointment of the result and performance, there will be a fitness concern regarding Lam, while Craig Woodman also left the field towards the end of the match. The one positive for manager Scott Rogers was the return to action of Kyle Egan, who made his first competitive appearance of the campaign following the injury he sustained in pre-season.

Willand Rovers: George Burton, Alfie Toland, Will Richards, Adam Poole, Ryan Guppy, Finley, Rooke (Louis Jagger Cane 85), Alfie Moulden, Archie Reay, Mani Skett (Mitch McCann 65), Stuart Bowker, Scott Piper (Noah Coppin 65)
Goals: Guppy 5, Richards 22, Beech 33og, Moulden 44, Bowker 84

Tiverton Town: Jimmy Weeks, Joe Belsten, Craig Woodman, Lloyd Beech, Gary Warren, Lennie Pegg, Neil Martin (Jordan Lam HT (Noah Brown 71)), Bradley Riggs, Theo Simpson, Andy Watkins (Kyle Egan 67), Isaac McCue
Goal: Watkins 62p

Attendance: 242