JEWSON WESTERN LEAGUE

Ivybridge Town 3 Street 5 FC

DESPITE racing into an early lead with two goals in the first eight minutes, Ivybridge Town suffered a disappointing home defeat, losing 5-3 to Street FC in the Jewson Western League at Erme Valley on Saturday (Sept 5), writes Graham Hambly.

Ivybridge looked set to continue where they left off a few days prior, when they overcame a 3-0 deficit to beat Liskeard Athletic 4-3 with three late goals, as they opened strongly against Street.

Connor McAuley gave them a fifth-minute lead when he drove the ball home after excellent work on the right by Owen Howard. Then Jacob Pickavant added the second with a cracking shot three minutes later.

That was as good as it got for Ivybridge, however, with Street hitting back to take a 3-2 interval lead.

Theo Worth levelled the scores with goals in the 23rd and 30th minutes and Eddie Townsend put Street ahead in the 33rd minute.

Any hopes of a second half recovery by Ivybridge were dashed when Preston Hopwood added a fourth goal for Street with a shot from an acute angle in the 66th minute and Worth completed his hat-trick in the 74th minute.

Jake Lane pulled a goal back for Ivybridge in the 78th minute when he converted a penalty after being fouled.

That goal raised hopes of a repeat of Tuesday’s late dramatic victory, but it was not to be.

Ivybridge joint manager Brad Gargett admitted that his side were still feeling the effects of the midweek game, saying: “I think Tuesday’s game took a lot out of the boys. After going 2-0 up, they have had done to them today what they did to Liskeard on Tuesday. Hopefully, they will learn from it.”

There was also the fact that Ivybridge are missing some key players through injury and unavailability, including striker Josh Johnson, who has a gashed forehead following an off the pitch accident.

Winger Chris Harvey was switched into the central attacking role, but Johnson’s energy and non-stop running was sadly missed.

Gargett said: “We are putting players into positions and trying things, but we have not got the settled nature that other teams have got in this league.

“At 2-0 up we stopped doing the same things, but ultimately that comes from having the personnel and the quality on the pitch. We lacked creativity and we made a number of individual errors defending our box.”

Ivybridge face a trip to St Blazey on Wednesday evening (Sep 9) followed by a home match against Tavistock AFC in the FA Vase second round qualifying on Saturday (Sep 12).

Both those matches could see Ivybridge facing ex-players who moved away from Erme Valley during the summer. They include last season’s leading scorer Kai Burrell, who joined St Blazey, while defender Sam Hillson and midfielder Ryan Smith signed for Tavistock.

Gargett said “St Blazey took some of our players after finishing below us in the league, which is frustrating. But we will go down there and do our best.”

An added problem for Gargett and fellow joint manager Ben Washam is that defenders James Forrest and Nick Salop will be unavailable, while Johnson could be out for at least another week.

Gargett added: “Ben and I will work with what we have got, but it is a battle.”