Pre-Season Match
Tuesday. July 16 . Southern Road
Exmouth Town 2 (Williams, Griffith)
Tiverton Town 2 (Murray, Trialist)
WE were fortunate to take a share of the spoils in this game played on a very grassy pitch. However, pre-season is not about the result, or even the performance, but about preparing, experimenting and being match-ready when the competitive stuff begins.
As a precaution, Dylan Jones was omitted from the starting 11 after pulling up in the warm-up.
On the quarter-of-an-hour mark, a stray defensive pass left Joel Manning in no man’s land meaning that former Yellows' striker Tom Bath appeared to have the simple task of stroking the ball into an unguarded net. However, he managed to hit the post, much to the relief of the Tiverton players and fans who had made the relatively short journey to Exmouth’s ground.
Our hosts were slightly in the ascendancy and it was against the run of play in the 27th minute that Matt Britton let fly from distance and forced a very good save from Robbie Powell, who tipped the ball over. Five minutes later, Niall Thompson limped off and was replaced by Javan Wright.
The home side continued to pose more questions than Tivvy, but then an uncharacteristically flowing move from us saw Wright beat a few of our hosts’ defenders before turning the ball to Leighton Thomas, whose cushioned volleyed pass to Jay Murray was superbly put away into the corner by the former Weston-super-Mare man.
This happened just before the break so, at half-time, we were a goal to the good albeit a little depleted with Niall and Dylan both unable to play a part in the rest of the evening’s proceedings.
Exmouth were the better side when the game resumed and, ten minutes into it, they had evened things up, Morgan Williams applying a conclusive volleyed finish although this did stem from a defensive error.
There were a few nervy moments for the Yellows but, after spells of resilience, they responded with another moment of quality. A sharp turn from the lively Murray saw him make progress down Exmouth’s right. Leighton Thomas was the recipient of his ball in and our attacking trialist was played in by the ex-Dorchester man and we were once again ahead.
On his second showing, the attacking trialist was impressing again. Wright was similarly a standout performer and Josh Jones gave a typically strong display in the heart of the defence.
The home side were good value for more than a slender loss and drew themselves level when Ben Griffith equalised following a game of pinball when the hosts had won a corner after Manning had done well to palm the ball around his post.
Exmouth had a couple of chances to come away with the win, but the Yellows’ good workout ended with the sides level.
Tiverton are back on home turf this Saturday as we welcome National League South Weston to Ladysmead, Scott Rogers returning to the stadium where he enjoyed many happy playing and managerial days. It will be good to see him.
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