The unofficial archives of Tiverton Town Football Club
Willand Rovers 2 - 2 Tiverton TownMonday 29/03/2010 Devon St Luke's Cup | Tivvy Archive |
Tiverton Town locked horns with Willand Rovers for the first time in anger since the autumn of 1979 and dished out a treat for a healthy crowd at Silver Street. Despite the pitch conditions making it close to impossible to play anything that resembled football both sides gave it everything for a gruelling two hours of action before Tiverton finally moved into the last four of the Devon Cup after a tense penalty shootout. Tiverton, fielding a team that would have been barely recognisable to the casual viewer, started the game on the front foot and took the lead inside three minutes. Sam Box, prolific for the Under 18s side capitalised on a slip in the Willand defence by Simon Hill to turn on the edge of the area and ram in a low shot that evaded Brian Cann and found the back of the net. Willand came close to equalising soon afterwards but Tiverton’s stand-in goalkeeper Lloyd Irish saved and held Joel Hawes low shot, and Irish continued to impress when he also saved from Danny Jee. However, the young shotstopper was saved only by his woodwork seconds later with Dean Stamp being the unfortunate Willand striker. But Rovers were level midway through the first half when Rob Norrish shot low from just inside the area into the bottom corner. Having failed to ride the storm Tiverton pressed forward again and regained the initiative just three minutes after conceding. David Wilkes was crudely upended in the box and new signing Tom Piotrowski followed up his Saturday debut with a goal from the spot on his first start for the Yellows. Irish was yet again in excellent form to deny Russell Jee on the stroke of half time before Willand were reduced to ten men when Hill slid in late on Tom Kington and earned himself a second yellow card. Hill was furious but his teammates quickly galvanised and took the game to their loftier opponents. Irish made the pick of his saves to keep Hawes at bay once more, but there was nothing he could do when Stamp drifted towards the near post to divert home a Russell Jee cross. Danny Baily wasted a glorious chance to win the game for Willand by heading a perfect Stamp cross wide, and when the roles were reversed a few minutes later Stamp couldn’t find the target either. There was no doubt that Willand were well on top despite being a man short, and the pattern continued into extra time, although with the pitch deteriorating further openings became fewer and farther between. With just five minutes of the second period of extra time remaining Stamp fired a shot inches wide of the post, and then with the final move from open play and with the heavans about to open once more Irish pulled off a miraculous double save from Baily and Russell Jee to take the tie to a penalty shootout. From here it was even more of a lottery than it had been already and Rovers took the early initiative when Cann saved Alex Sanderson’s spot kick. However, former Tivvy midfielder David Steele promptly sent his attempt a fraction wide, and from that point on both teams kept their nerve. Piotrowski scored for Tivvy, Bailey scored for Willand via Irish’s hand. Wilkes coolly slotted home to put Town back in front and George Rogers tied things up again with one penalty each remaining. Phil Everett did the honours for the Yellows and Stamp ensured that the night was not over yet when he sent Irish the wrong way. The final act was left to Jake Wannell and Danny Jee. Wannell did his part by finding the net consummately, but Jee blazed his penalty higher than the moon to gift Tiverton a victory they probably didn’t deserve on the balance of play. Martyn Rogers will be well aware that the game was of far less importance than this the upcoming league match against Swindon Supermarine but will be delighted with the victory nonetheless. Particularly he will be more than satisfied with Lloyd Irish’s performance between the sticks, while Tom Kington played admirably in the centre of defence as Tiverton played an unaccustomed 4-3-3 system for most of the game. Sam Box making the step up from Youth to Senior level and grabbing a goal in the process is further testimony to the whole Youth Development system, and elsewhere Ben Shepherd looked comfortable when he was introduced as a second half substitute in place of the struggling Lee Collier. Willand Rovers: Brian Cann, Ben Mammola, Russell Jee, Sam Croft, Simon Hill, David Steele, Danny Jee, Rob Norrish (Lloyd Beech 85), Dean Stamp, Joel Hawes (Danny Baily 62) James Ansell (George Rogers 46) Goals: Norrish 26, Stamp 56 Booked: Hill 30, 49, Rogers 93 Sent off: Hill 49 Tiverton Town: Lloyd Irish, Jake Wannell, Phil Everett, David Wilkes, Chris Clarke, Tom Kington, Aiden Harper-Penamn, Adam Mortimer (Stuart Anderson 69), Sam Box (Alex Sanderson 58), Lee Collier (Ben Shepherd 58), Tom Piotrowski Goals: Box 3, Piotrowski 29pen Booked: None Sent off: None Attendance: 192 |
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