Pitching In Southern League, Premier Division South
Wimborne Town 3 (Fletcher 64, Bedford 66, Carmichael 72)
Tiverton Town 0
Tuesday, October 15 . The Wyatt Homes Stadium . 7.30pm
THIS is a challenging period for the Yellows and although there were some encouraging signs in the first half as we held our own against our FA Cup conquerors, ultimately we succumbed to a 3-0 defeat and remained in the bottom four.
New signing midfielder Evander Grubb took his place in the starting 11; Ben Gerring also started and Matt Britton returned to wear the captain’s armband; Jeff Forkuo, Jay Murray and the injured Oli Jenkins made way as manager Leigh Robinson went searching for a much-needed victory on a wet, Dorset evening.
Wimborne, whose 3G pitch is as good as any of the artificial surfaces in the division, squandered a few early chances, but the Yellows were holding their own and matching their hosts with some slick expansive football and neat interchanges. The new players all demonstrated good technical ability, with Bailey Kempster, Josh Bernard and Grubb, in particular, involved in some promising Tiverton moves and adding to the foot speed of the side.
In the opening ten minutes, the Yellows were making some headway into Magpies territory, though without really threatening Charlie Philpot’s goal. A volleyed effort from the home side’s Jez Bedford flew over in the 11th minute and, three minutes later, Joe Parker lashed a shot wide after being sent through, although the raising of an offside flag meant it wouldn’t have counted anyway.
In an evenly contested first 45 minutes, another long-range attempt from Wimborne spiralled into the crowd, but clear-cut chances were at a premium. Parker did have a decent opportunity to draw first blood. However, he screwed his effort just wide of the upright. There was some incisive, enterprising play on a wet surface owing to the steady falling rain.
Neither side was quite able to grab control of proceedings in the opening half. There was a flurry of corners won by the home team with the half-hour mark approaching, but solid defensive work dealt with their potential danger. An important block from Asa Hall then put an end to sweeping Wimborne attack.
Grubb, who had some impressive moments in the first half, carried the ball with intent at speed, but, although he almost set Parker free, the Magpies’ ’keeper Philpot got there just ahead of our striker. The game turned a little scruffy before we broke for half-time refreshments. Despite not being totally convincing, it was a decent showing from Tiverton in that first half and the goalless scoreline was a fair representation of what had been served up by the two teams.
On resumption, Wimborne started brightly and a top drawer save from Zak Baker, as he made himself big to deny Will Fletcher, who had burst through, from close range, kept things level. The Yellows then broke impressively at pace, with Grubb, Bernard and Kai Churchley all to the fore; however, the final ball was overhit.
There was some attractive football on display from both sides.
Tor Swann replaced Bernard, who had given a good account of himself,f for Tivvy and Lewis Beale came on in place of Joe Ryan for the hosts. Following a flowing bit of play from Leigh Robinson’s men, the ball bounced up invitingly for Churchley, but his shot was always on the rise and went over the bar.
Despite the Magpies being on the front foot in the second period, Tiverton were very much in this game until our fragility when conceding became apparent when a miscalculation at the back saw Baker exposed. This left Fletcher homing in on an unguarded goal and he completed the relatively simple task of putting ball into the net.
That goal came in the 64th minute and, when the lead was doubled two minutes later when Jez Bedford hammered home from point blank range after some frantic defending inside our box, all the confidence and belief appeared to drain out of us.
Even though almost half an hour was left to play, there was an inevitability about the result as soon as we went two down.
Our fate was sealed when former Bournemouth pro Josh Carmichael accurately navigated his free-kick low into the corner of the Yellows’ goal.
There was no lack of effort from the team, but there was a lack of conviction to our play as soon as the first goal went in and we seemed incapable of mounting a telling response after that.
An outstanding reaction stop from Baker prevented his namesake, Harry, from inflicting any further damage and Farren Simons strayed offside after a good spot from fellow late substitute Jay Murray.
However, that eight-minute spell that yielded three goals did for Tivvy and, although there was no serious movement in the table, we stay in the relegation places.
There is lots of football to be played between now and the end of the season, but we urgently need to turn a corner and our next chance to do that is on Saturday, when play-off contenders Sholing are the visitors to the Ian Moorcroft Stadium.
The Southampton side experienced a bit of a wobble on Tuesday night, when they were put to the sword by Dorchester, who now have players back after injury – 5-1 was the size of the defeat.
We dust ourselves off and try again at the weekend.
Yellows: Z Baker, Kempster, Hall, Gerring, J Jones, Wright, Britton, Bernard, Grubb, Churchley, Parker. Substitues: Simons, Jeremy, Forkuo, Murray, Swann.
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