Isuzu FA Trophy, third qualifying round
Tiverton Town 0
Dorchester Town 0
Dorchester won 5-4 on penalties
Saturday, October 5 . Ian Moorcroft Stadium . 3pm
ANYONE present at the Ian Moorcroft Stadium on Saturday afternoon should have left the ground with immense pride in the Yellows despite falling at the first hurdle in the competition.
There have been times during the early part of this season when the team has not done itself justice or been second best – this was a case of neither.
Ben Gerring retained his place in Tiverton’s backline as Mike Baker struggles with injury; Matt Britton’s captain’s armband was worn by Josh Jones, as he missed out after picking up a knock against Gloucester; and Ryan Crawford has been called back by Weston-super-Mare. Jay Murray took a starting place as Theo Jeremy dropped to the bench and Jeff Forkuo came into the centre of our midfield and; for the visitors, influential midfielders Corby Moore and Junior Ngalowere missing, and defender Will Spetch was unavailable.
An action-packed game began with Dorchester first out of the blocks and former Yellow Olaf Koszela was foiled by goalkeeper Zak Baker early on. Leigh Robinson’s men were rocked by an early setback when, after five minutes, Dylan Jones – so often our star man in the campaign so far – pulled up injured and was unable to take any further part in the game.
The extremely disappointed Jones was replaced by Jeremy as Robinson rang early line-up changes, Niall Thompson swapping sides to move into the left-back role vacated by the Welshman and Jay Murray slotting into the right-back position and Jeremy going out wide.
When that stoppage was over, there was bright interplay from both sides.
Promisingly fluent in possession, Tiverton looked dangerous in the final third. Another chance did arrive for the Magpies, though, but Shaquille Gwengwe’s effort was at a comfortable height for Baker and he caught the ball.
Dorchester’s attacking threat is widely recognised as amongst the strongest at our level and throughout this game, with the odd exception, the Yellows were solid and miserly.
The barrier of Josh Jones and Ben Gerring was rarely broken; Murray was a revelation in the position he sometimes filled at Weston; and Thompson adjusted well and was often the instigator when Tivvy pushed forward.
Acting captain Jones flashed a powerful header goalbound; however, it was straight at Gerard Benfield in the Magpies’ goal. A rampaging run from Thompson saw him surge past a number of visiting players, outmuscling them and getting across the bye-line and pulling back for Joe Parker, whose snap shot close in drew a fine one-handed stop, low down, from Benfield.
Blocked headers from further corner situations for the Yellows put us on top and incisive play around the box and neat attacking movements saw us turn the screw in a period of sustained pressure. Parker was bringing others into the game and Kai Churchley’s intelligent use of the ball and probing forward play asked questions of the away side’s rearguard. Forkuo laid the foundations with good manipulation of the ball in stretching our opponents.
Just before the break, however, a clear penalty was awarded to the Magpies, but Tivvy breathed a big sigh of relief when a flag from the assistant referee that remained raised before Dorchester launched the attack that led to the penalty decision being reached brought play back for a Tiverton throw-in.
Half-time refreshments arrived without any goals, but with plenty of entertainment, talking points and a good standard of football, all providing an appealing spectacle.
Murray whose impressive display at right-back had been much talked about around the ground, went tantalisingly close to giving his team a deserved lead not long into the second half. Stepping inside his marker as it opened up just over 20 yards out, Murray let fly and Benfield was beaten, but his cultured strike thundered against the post.
Back came Dorchester as they forced consecutive corners, producing some enterprising attacks, with Matt Buse and Ollie Haste integral to their creativity. Tivvy quickly responded as fine link-up play from Churchley and workhorse Javan Wright resulted in a corner of our own, Josh Jones nodding fractionally wide after he climbed highest.
A sprinkling of substitutions on either side was made as both went in search of a winner: Gerring, who had put in a strong shift, made way for the returning Tor Swann; Farren Simons also came off the bench.
There were many tense moments and frantic play in both final thirds, but only half-chances were created in a barnstorming finale to the 90 minutes and penalties was the outcome.
The Yellows led the shoot-out when Parker, Hall and Murray found the net, with Zak Baker saving Luke Pardoe’s penalty for the Magpies, giving us an advantage. Buse converted the visitor’s fourth spot-kick, before Simons saw our fourth penalty stopped by Benfield. Thompson took and scored our fifth one, taking the shoot-out to sudden death.
Dorchester’s sixth was put away by Jack Dickson and they then moved into the next round when Forkuo saw his attempt go over the bar.
Whilst all at the club are obviously disappointed with being eliminated in the opening round of Trophy and losing out on greater prize money, from a footballing point of view, this was a stirring performance that was streets ahead of what we, as fans, witnessed against Wimborne in the FA Cup. On the balance of play, we were unlucky in not winning the game in the 90 minutes.
All of the match-day squad that took part on Saturday contributed well and, having been dealt that early setback with Dylan Jones going off injured, there have been big improvements made by the Yellows on the field in the last four weeks.
They are hugely competitive at the moment and have served notice of the progress they have made against two top sides in Dorchester and Gloucester in their last two outings.
To not get anything out of the last two games despite being good enough to win either is deeply frustrating, but they should head to Swindon Supermarine next weekend with confidence, because only fine margins and misfortune have stopped us from going home happy on the last two Saturdays.
Yellows: Z Baker, Thompson, Gerring, J Jones, D Jones, Forkuo, Hall, Murray, Wright, Churchley, Parker. Substitutes: M Baker, Jeremy, Swann, Simons, Smith.
Attendance: 304.
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