Saturday, November 2 . Bulpit Lane . 3pm
Hungerford Town 1 (McGrory pen 22)
Tiverton Town 1 (Hall 77)
Pitching In Southern League, Premier Division South
WITH a lot of preparation happening behind the scenes throughout the week, everyone was watching on with much interest at how the front of house would fare in their opening game under new manager Rob Dray and his coaching team.
An injury picked up late into the week robbed them of the influential Dylan Jones, and Niall Thompson and Mike Baker remained ruled out. Plymouth Argyle loanee Josh Bernard returned to the starting eleven, with the returning Theo Jeremy and the back-from-injury Oli Jenkins taking their place on the bench where Kai Churchley provided another attacking option.
It was a bright opening for both sides and, in particular, for a lively Yellows. Tiverton looked assured in possession, but there was an early half-chance for Dawid Regula, which he lifted over, before Zak Baker got down smartly at his near post.
Tivvy responded in the 14th minute by forcing veteran ex-EFL goalkeeper Ryan Clarke into a top drawer save as a back-post header required razor sharp reactions from him.
Twenty minutes in and a fluent and dangerous looking Yellows were beginning to look the more likely to score. However, a foul on Regula inside our box as he was about to pull the trigger changed that early diagnosis with Louis McGrory converting the resulting penalty in the 22nd minute.
For around ten minutes, Tiverton were knocked out of their stride. Hungerford captain Rhys Tyler was denied by the agility of Baker after he let fly from 20 yards. Then big central defender Baboucarr Jarra somehow headed beyond the crossbar from very close in, letting Tivvy off the hook.
We then regained our shape and composure to end the half strongly. An enterprising break, with the Yellows building up a head of steam as they drove forward, required some no-nonsense defending from the Crusaders’ Louie Paget as he hammered the ball out of play with Parker bearing down on goal.
Then Jarra more than atoned for his miss ten minutes earlier with an outstanding last-ditch goal-line block as Tiverton went so close to levelling things up before half-time refreshments. There was more than a bit of panic in the Hungerford box before Jarra put his body on the line and we could count ourselves to be unfortunately behind as the players headed for the dressing-rooms.
After half-time instructions had been given by both coaching teams, the action started again with both sets of players looking for some instant ascendancy.
Hungerford were the first to threaten, but when it opened up for Regula, Baker quickly closed the door with a very good stop.
Less than ten minutes after the resumption, Rob Dray changed things up by introducing Churchley and Jenkins, with Evander Grubb and JBernard making way. Fresh legs seemed to give the Yellows more of an impetus and they started to knock on the door as they were the more dominant of the two sides. Playing with confidence and moving quickly through the thirds, Tivvy's endeavours sparked frantic defending from their hosts.
Churchley and Jenkins were both to the fore and just prior to the hour mark with’ keeper Clarke exposed, a second goal-line clearance, this time with his head from Jarra, kept us at bay. Nothing came from the corner that followed; however, we were giving Hungerford plenty of concern.
Second-half substitute for the hosts, Forest Green loanee Isaac Hughes's speculative effort from distance left Baker untroubled in the 72nd minute and the persistence of the Yellows was about to pay dividends.
Five minutes later, Tiverton recycled the ball from a corner and when Javan Wright’s inviting cross to the back post found Asa Hall, and he obliged with an excellent technical header to turn the ball past Clarke in the Hungerford goal.
The leveller saw both sides determined to get the goal which would have taken all three points although, despite Tivvy playing some attractive, incisive, football through the team, that is how it remained. Neither team was able to carve out a clear chance in that final 15 minutes of the match.
The Yellows continuing with the purpose, determination and energy that was evident in the previous two games, I’m sure made Rob Dray and his team proud of his new dressing-room. A third game unbeaten sees us stay out of the bottom four, but he and his players will be extremely aware of the need to maintain standards in order to climb the table.
The new manager can be happy with the way things went at Hungerford and next on the horizon for him and the side is Tuesday night’s Devon St Luke’s Challenge Cup game at home to Ilfracombe Town, where it is free entry.
Then we return to league action in a second home game of the week on Saturday against Hanwell Town.
It was a pleasing and encouraging start to the Dray era.
Yellows: Z Baker, Forkuo, Hall, J Jones, Kempster, Britton, Bernard, Wright, Grubb, Swann, Parker. Substitutes: Churchley, Jenkins, Jeremy, Simons, Traynor-Smith.
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