TIVVY ARCHIVE

The unofficial archives of Tiverton Town Football Club


Tiverton Town 4 - 0 Dawlish

Wednesday 05/04/2000   Devon St Luke's Cup
Nigel Davis

It took a while for it to sink in. Having concentrated for so long on the league‚ and with the talk on the terraces concentrating on Hinckley´s eleventh hour equaliser at Moor Green the previous night‚ the significance of this victory was almost lost on some of us.
    It was the first time that Tivvy had reached the final of the Devon St Lukes Bowl - the competition that succeeded the Devon St Lukes Cup that Tivvy had dominated throughout the 90s. Indeed‚ I do believe that this is the first time that there has been a Non-League representative in the final. Even better news is the fact that Ladysmead will host the final and that it will be against either Torquay United or Elmore.
    With Steve Hynds skippering Dawlish and winning the toss‚ he took advantage of inside knowledge to attack the Devco end. His brother‚ Ian‚ had a couple of half chances to embarrass Tivvy but Dawlish´s cause was not helped by a late reshuffling of their squad. Another ex-Tivvy player‚ Dave Stocker‚ was switched from the forward line to right back as Andy Raybould had been delayed‚ eventually arriving midway through the first half. Without Jason Charlesworth‚ whose display at Taunton the other day saw him grab both of Dawlish´s goals in a 2-2 draw‚ the visiting attack looked lightweight. It appears that Upton Athletic is his main club and it was just a cameo appearance at Wordsworth Drive - and it was also Upton that had tempted Dave Cadwallader away‚ so denying us the chance to see these two  ex-Tivvy players. It was left to leading scorer Richard Hancox to lead the line and‚ dangerous as he was‚ Tivvy´s defence gave him little room to show his skills.
    A rare appearance from Ryan King gave hope that he might repeat his feats for Backwell over Dawlish this season when he scored both goals in their 1-0 wins but he failed to shine on his home debut.
    Tivvy broke the deadlock after 27 minutes when Kevin Nancekivell skittered into the box‚ cut inside and‚ on the edge of the six-yard box‚ lofted a cross/shot towards the far post. Jamie Day managed to get his fingertips to the ball but only succeeded in pushing it towards Dominic Richardson who sidefooted it home.
    The nearest that Dawlish came to equalising was in the 42nd minute when Hancox beat Paul Edwards to the ball but screwed his shot wide. Immediately Tivvy countered through Steve Ovens whose mazy run and cross almost led to a second goal but Chuck Schwenn got in the way of the ball (he didn´t know a lot about it) and the ball ran kindly for the Dawlish defence.
    It was Ovens who‚ with the second half just ten minutes old‚ put pressure on Dave Stocker and won a throw by the corner flag. This led to a rare Tivvy corner and the ever reliable Richardson met the ball with his head to make it 2-0. With Tivvy now beginning to run rings around a rapidly tiring Dawlish‚ Nicky Marker was replaced by Luke Vinnicombe whilst Raybould came on for Phil
Lloyd. The loss of Lloyd was immediately latched upon by Kevin Nancekivell who‚ in the 61st minute‚ crashed the ball home on the half-volley‚ Day only succeeding in taking the sting out of the shot.
    With victory assured‚ Paul Tatterton and Kevin Nancekivell made way for Pete Conning and Richard Pears - making his first appearance since mid-February. Dawlish stepped up the ante and were unlucky not to get a consolation goal when Hancox´s shot hit a post after 64 minutes. It only served to get Tivvy to step up a gear and‚ three minutes later‚ Scott Rogers bisected the defence with his perfectly timed run to latch onto Pete Conning´s exquisite through ball.
    4-0 was a fair reflection on the game and keeps the momentum going for the last month of a quite breathtaking season. With Steve Daly and Dave Leonard both playing the full 90 minutes‚ the loss of Phil Everett and Stuart Smith was not felt - and Phil should be back at Bromsgrove. No doubt Noel Blake‚ the Exeter City manager making a rare visit to Ladysmead‚ will have made a note to return and watch some of the Tivvy squad again. Too late to change their fortunes this season‚ there are one or two who wouldn´t look out of place in the Third Division or‚ if results go against Exeter‚ the Nationwide Conference...
Line up: Edwards‚ Richardson‚ Saunders‚ Tatterton‚ Marker‚ Rogers‚ Nancekivell‚ King‚ Ovens‚ Daly‚ Leonard.
Subs: Vinnicombe (Marker49), Conning (Tatterton 62), Pears (Nancekivell 62).

This report ©2000 Nigel Davis