TIVVY ARCHIVE

The unofficial archives of Tiverton Town Football Club


Weymouth 0 - 2 Tiverton Town

Monday 26/08/2002   Southern League Premier Division
John Reidy

Forget two World Wars and one World Cup‚ that´s all history: or ´bunk´ as Henry Ford was apt to say when he wasn´t offering his Model T in any colour as long as it was black. Yes‚ forget history‚ what made this island kingdom of ours ´Great´ was not history‚ but tradition. The pageantry of royalty‚ the respect of the peasants for their politicians‚ the music hall. Songs like ´I Do Love To Be Beside The Seaside´; and living the sentiments of such songs as the workers from ´downstairs´ abandoned their employers from ´upstairs´ to their own devices on August Bank Holiday‚ packed their sandwiches and flasks‚ picked up their buckets and spades‚ knotted the four corners of handkerchiefs and set off for the beaches of the realm. The end of the pier shows‚ the Punch and Judy on the beach‚ jellied eels; all part of the great British tradition. Some things live on‚ others evolve. Most of the piers are gone‚ the shows and music hall with them. Wife beating and cruelty to animals by dressing them up with ruffs round their necks in the name of entertainment is now deemed to be not politically correct‚ but we can still make our way to the coast‚ can´t we? Well we can try. With Mr Ford´s legacy‚ in every colour BUT black‚ providing the means of transport there is no reason why not. Apart from the fact that everybody has the same idea resulting in a new tradition of spending Bank Holidays parked in queues on the highways and byways of the land. It´s a long time since I broke my personal tradition of breaking with tradition and staying at home on such days‚ but with Tivvy playing at Weymouth it had to be done‚ knotted handkerchief and all. The hope was for a pleasant summer day‚ a sniff of ozone and at least a point against the Terras‚ something that would break what was beginning to look as if it might become a tradition in its own right‚ the team from Dorset never dropping a point to the Yellows.

The sun flitting in and out behind the clouds was indicative of the first 15 minutes of the game. Short bursts of activity from both sides with neither able to prolong them and take the upper hand. Though the play was flowing from end to end it was the home side that were getting the ball into the danger zone more frequently and Steve Collis was having a closer view of the action than his counterpart‚ Jason Matthews‚ a familiar face from his days at Paulton‚ Taunton‚ and Exeter City. The Terras gradually edged their way on top but as we have come to expect‚ the Yellows defence was solid and were not seriously threatened. Then the contest began to fall into a pattern. Like a pendulum swinging beneath a grandfather clock. First one side then the other would dominate for a spell of ten minutes or so. With seventeen minutes gone Steve Peters flighted in a long cross. Antony Lynch who had had little service up till then‚ though he and Jamie Mudge had chased and harassed for anything that came remotely near them‚ stretched to meet the ball with his head but was unable to make a decent contact and it flew wide and high. A couple of minutes later and Phil Everett sent Scott Rogers away with a long ball and Scott teed up Jamie Mudge for a thunderous shot that cannoned off a defender and away to safety. Twenty two minutes in and Jamie again let fly on the turn from 25 yards forcing Matthews full length to hold the shot. From the keeper´s clearance Weymouth started their turn for a bout of attacking play as Chris Giles‚ making his debut following his move from Yeovil Town‚ blasted high and wide and shortly after headed on a long free kick that had Collis dropping to clasp the ball to his chest. A Weymouth corner chested off the line and the pendulum swung back towards Tivvy. Paul Chenoweth‚ who was really fired up for this game‚ laid the ball through the middle to Everett. Back to goal‚ Phil twisted‚ turned and shot‚ again forcing the save from Matthews who by now was the more active goalie. Then came the breakthrough. Jason Rees split the home midfield and defence with a ball through to Lynch drifting out towards the left flank. Lynchie slipped it inside to Rogers who seemed to stumble but still managed to hook the ball goalwards‚ beating Matthews and deflecting into the net off the chest of the retreating Alex Browne. No doubt Scott will claim the strike but it is one of those debatable ones. It went in at the near post; if the unfortunate Weymouth skipped had avoided it and not helped it on its way it probably would have gone in at the far post. Does it matter? It´s a team game and for the first time Tiverton were in front against Weymouth in a Dr Martens game. And they looked like staying in front as Lynch was next to bring the best out of Matthews and then from a defender who just managed to divert the ball away from Antony´s head as he looked likely to convert a long Haines cross at the far post. Matthews was again the hero for the home fans as Nathan Rudge firmly connected with Cheno´s corner forcing a somewhat risky punch from the gloves man. As the interval approached the game began to swing again but before The Terras could threaten the whistle sounded and we could all catch our breath.

First threat of the second half came from the much vaunted but‚ so far on this occasion‚ hardly noticed Lee Phillips‚ who cut inside from the right to send a rising shot that was headed into the top corner until Collis sprang to claw the ball away right under the crossbar. If the inventors or manufacturers of ´´Velcro´ want footage for an advert they couldn´t do better than get hold of a recording of Steve´s performance in this game. Everything he touched stuck - and how important that was to turn out to be. Three minutes in‚ just after that brief moment from Phillips‚ Mudge showed a touch of magic with a lob over the defence that sent Everett through on Matthews. It was a little too far in front of Phil but close enough to force the keeper into conceding a corner. Jason Rees, letting his feet do most of the talking this afternoon, swung in the corner from the right. It was headed clear to Mudge who looped it back in, but just wide. Town found themselves defending desperately as the pendulum began to swing ever more quickly. But the Yellows back line is solid and the quick break came, though Chenoweth´s low shot was watched wide by Weymouth´s keeper. Then came Tivvy´s second goal and it was something special. At Hinckley on the opening day of the season Jamie had salvaged a point with a well taken strike after evading the attention of two defenders. He went one better this time. Receiving the ball about 25 yards out, almost dead centre with two defenders close in on him and another on the edge of the ´D´, Jamie swayed past the first two and within three yards had pulled wide of the third as he closed in, and hit as firm a shot as one could wish to see, leaving Matthews grasping thin air at full length and the net bulging. If the home fans had complained that they couldn´t hear Tivvy sing at the start of the game then they could certainly hear them cheering now, more so since they had gone so noticeably quiet themselves. Fifty three minutes gone and the sun was shining for the Yellows. Weymouth had no option but to throw everything forward. They kept trying but just couldn´t find a way through. Then on the hour they did. Giles got in behind the defence, the first time a Claret and Blue shirt had been seen in that territory.

Steve Peters was the last man as Giles burst towards the area. Peters clattered into the back of him. Outside the area but Steve was the last man. The Laws are clear. If it was a foul, and the referee said it was, he had to go. He went. All bets were void. Terras wasted the free kick and we were left with the prospects of finding out just how good the Tivvy defence really was. Lynch was replaced by David Steele, understandable. That left Jamie Mudge alone up front.....for all of a minute. A bit of shove and push, which at worse should have resulted in handbags at ten yards, provoked Jamie into flinging back his elbow. The pusher from behind threw himself five foot in the air before landing clutching his face. Strange since Jamie´s elbow had caught him fair and square - about three inches below his windpipe. The ten I award for dramatic interpretation, and the fact that Jamie was provoked by the hustling from behind, does not alter the fact that it was violent conduct and he had to go. He went. Twenty seven minutes to go, two goals up, two men down. We really were going to see how the Yellows could work. They worked. With nobody lurking up front they had to either concede the ball by booting clear or carry it out. For the most part they did the later.

Everyone played their part. Rob Cousins organised and showed his experience. Phil, Nathan and David provided the height in the middle. Scott, Cheno and Jason picked up the ball and carried it away and Danny Haines was a revelation, hardly changing his game as he sprinted from defence into attack. Tivvy even won a corner or two and from one Nathan could have made it 3-0 but for a typical defenders effort on goal, ballooned over the top. And behind all this was Mr Velcro himself, Steve Collis. Despite the stalwart defending in front of him he was obviously busy. Busy but as safe as the Rock of Gibraltar is from invasion from South Sea Islanders in an Armada of canoes. Everything, but everything, that came his way was held cleanly. Crosses, shots, headers. The home side could not breach the determined wall. They wasted their spare men by leaving them back on the half way line rather than sending them wide where they would have pulled defenders out of the middle. Every time they broke into the penalty area the home forwards would tumble to the ground. If a cross was met by a Tiverton shirt they´d stop and appeal for a penalty. Frankly, they failed to take advantage of their situation, good though the defending was. The nearest they came to finding a way through was in the 88th minute. Robinson forced in a cross from the right, Rawlinson headed if back across to Giles who headed for goal. Collis held it. Tiverton were never hanging on. Three minutes were added. That made half an hour of 11 against 9 with little sign of the scoreline changing. Not really surprising then that the attendance of 808 was down to about half of that when the final whistle sounded and the Tiverton fans had the last word. They couldn´t hear Weymouth sing - most of them were well on their way home.

Tiverton Town: 1. Steve Collis, 2. Paul Chenoweth, 3. Danny Haines, 4. Steve Peters, 5. Nathan Rudge, 6. Rob Cousins, 7. Antony Lynch, 8. Jason Rees, 9. Phil Everett , 10. Scott Rogers, 11. Jamie Mudge.
Subs: 12. Richard Pears, 14. David Steele, 15. Kevin Nancekivell (Rees,89), 16. Luke Vinnicombe, 17. Steve Ovens.
Cards: Peters (Red,60), Mudge (Red,63).

Weymouth: 1. Jason Matthews, 2. Steve Tully, 3. Simon Browne, 4. Alex Browne, 5. Mark Kenway, 6. Mark Rawlinson, 7. Mark Robinson, 8. Ian Hutchinson, 9. Martin Barlow, 10. Chris Giles, 11. Lee Phillips.
Subs: 12. Ryan Ashford (Hutchinson,68), 14. Michael Dean (Browne,S ,68), 15. Lee Bradford, 16. NONE NAMED, 17. Paul Gadsby.
Cards: Hutchinson(Yellow,20).

Referee: Guy Beale (Taunton).

Oh, and to fullfill an after match promise...Hello Cheno!

This report ©2002 John Reidy