JEWSON WESTERN LEAGUE

St Blazey 3 Ivybridge Town 1

TWO late goals denied Ivybridge Town any reward on the road as they lost 3-1 away to St Blazey in the Jewson Western League on Wednesday evening (Sept 9), writes Graham Hambly.

After a goalless first half, two former Ivybridge players combined to open the scoring for St Blazey in the 55th minute when Kai Burrell set up the opportunity for Sean Thomson to put the home side ahead.

Ivybridge hit back in the 68thvminute with Owen Howard equalising shortly after coming on as a substitute for Jack Rider.

But then Burrell, who was last season’s leading scorer for Ivybridge, struck to restore St Blazey’s lead in the 81st minute and the home side wrapped up their victory three minutes later when Tallan Mitchell was fouled in the penalty area and stepped up to convert the resultant spot kick.

Ivybridge joint manager Ben Washam said it was a frustrating evening for his side, adding: “It was a really tightly contested game, but St Blazey had a bit of luck on the night.”

He explained that Ivybridge considered the opening goal for St Blazey was the result of a dubious decision as he was expecting it to be ruled offside.

On the other hand, he described the equaliser from Howard as “a good finish”.

Once again, Ivybridge were forced to field a depleted side because of injuries and the unavailability of key players. They were without skipper James Forrest, fellow defender Nick Salop and strikers Josh Johnson and Dan Tate.

It is hoped that Forrest and Johnson will be available for the next match, at home to Tavistock AFC in the second qualifying round of the FA Vase on Saturday (Sept 12).

Ivybridge reached that stage of the competition with a 2-1 home win over Teignmouth AFC in the first qualifying round and have generally enjoyed a good run at home with five wins and a draw before going down 5-3 at home to Street FC last Saturday (Sept 5).

“We have done well at home this season,” said Washam, adding: “We will hope to continue that form against Tavistock and bounce back from last week’s defeat.”