Wednesday, January 1 . 3pm . Bolitho Park
Plymouth Parkway 0
Tiverton Town 0
Pitching In Southern League, Premier Division South
BECAUSE of the positioning of both clubs, the stakes are getting higher each time they enter the field of play. This New Year's Day six-pointer reached its conclusion with the Devon rivals remaining where they were prior to kick-off, courtesy of a draw.
The Yellows welcomed back Joe Parker, and Josh Jones was amongst the substitutes, but had to do without the services of Dylan Jones because of illness. Nat Jarvis was also an absentee as he was getting married. Scorers at Chertsey, Marcus Day and Gabe Billington, retained their places in Rob Dray's starting 11 at a damp Bolitho Park.
Parkway were the dominant side in the first half and Tiverton were indebted to goalkeeper Joe Duncan and his heavily pressurised defence for keeping us level. Former Tivvy loanee Jack Endacott forced Duncan to tip over a couple of minutes into the game and then some backs-to-the-wall defending from the Yellows saw two goal-line clearances in quick succession.
In the eighth minute, Duncan produced an outstanding save to deny a powerful effort by Dylan Jones (the Parkway one) from finding the corner, flying across his goal to palm away the attempt at full stretch with a strong glove.
Tiverton really struggled to make an imprint in the game during that first half and Duncan kept the Plymouth side at bay with at least three more telling stops, as some slick approach play from our opponents asked plenty of questions of us defensively. For Tivvy, our best outlet was Day, skilfully manipulating the ball away from his markers and enjoying success down Parkway’s left.
The Yellows, though, really had to dig in during that first half as our hosts pressed almost continuously for an opener. Rob Dray and his coaching staff will have been relieved to have got to half-time unscathed and could not fault the team’s resilience. However, not having produced much in an attacking sense and conceding lots of possession to Parkway would have been a real cause for concern.
Whatever was said at the break obviously galvanised Tiverton and their intent was clearly visible. Pinned in their own half for quite a lot of the opening period, it was the Yellows who laid siege to their hosts’ goal early in the second half.
Day, with one touch to pass a home defender and a second to launch a thunderbolt of a strike that shook the crossbar, left Parkway ’keeper, Cardiff loanee Ewan Griffiths, clutching air.
Kai Churchley then weaved in and out of a few defenders with some neat footwork. He was not able to get clean contact on his shot, though, and the ball trickled through to Griffiths.
Corners and long throws followed and Toby Down saw an effort comfortably nestle in the Parkway ’keeper’s midriff.
Some incisive shifting of the ball as he cut inside and out saw Day carve out an opportunity for himself, but his curling attempt was an agonising whisker away from nestling into the bottom corner. He was outstanding all afternoon and continued to tease his way into good positions. His and others’ work-rates were truly appreciated by a decent away support who gave their team plenty of backing.
The Plymouth side were still dangerous and Duncan had to be alert twice to pluck a threatening cross out of the air and then get down at the feet of one of their forward players. Bailey Kempster had a shot vitally blocked, leaving Griffiths to gather as the Yellows applied more pressure, and Churchley, after manoeuvring himself into the box, was closed down just as he pulled the trigger. Churchley showed excellent technical ability on several occasions.
Serial Tiverton party pooper Matt Wright, on as a substitute, was slid through after good build-up play from the home side but was foiled by the quick reactions of Duncan who pulled off a smart save from the physical ex-Tivvy striker.
As the visitors pressed for a winner, the overlapping Niall Thompson came more to the fore. With surging runs from deep, on one occasion he gained a corner after starting from inside his own half. Parkway were finding it hard to cope with the double threat on the left of Thompson and the irresistible Day.
Griffiths, under pressure from one of those corners with a posse of Tivvy players competing for the ball, palmed over whilst back peddling. Josh Jones, one of three second-half substitutions (Jeff Forkuo and Tor Swann, the others) stole in at the back post and appeared to be impeded as he rose to head goalbound.
However, Parkway resisted Tiverton’s onslaught and both teams had to be content with a point, which keeps them in the bottom four.
League leaders Merthyr are next for the Yellows. They maintained their lead at the summit after a late New Year's Day equaliser from our former player Noah Smerdon at home to Gloucester City gave the Welsh side a share of the spoils.
With all important points on the table and the not too distant memories of an opening day 6-0 humbling from the Martyrs, a huge performance will be required on Saturday if we are to add to our current point’s total.
There was plenty of encouragement to take from this game and a clean sheet was richly deserved by the once again impressive Duncan and his defence. Going forward in the second half, we played flowing attractive football, with Day and Churchley standing out.
The only thing missing was an end product and I do not think I will be alone in thinking that one will be very much needed at the Ian Moorcroft Stadium this weekend.
Yellows: Duncan, Thompson, Jenkins, Down, Kempster, Britton (c) Hall, Billington, Day, Churchley, Parker. Substitutes: J Jones, Swann, Forkuo, Hallet (g).
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