IVYBRIDGE Town are through to the semi-finals of the Jewson Western League Les Phillips Cup following a 3-2 away win over Paulton Rovers on Saturday (Feb 14), writes Graham Hambly.

It was the fourth attempt at staging the quarter-final tie in which Ivybridge originally were drawn at home. Two proposed dates for the match were rained off at Ivybridge and league rules meant the fixture was switched to Paulton, where there was also a postponement on Saturday February 7.

The match eventually went ahead after the Paulton pitch at Winterfield Stadium passed an early morning inspection. It was the first game for Ivybridge since their 3-1 win at Helston in the previous round of the competition on January 13.

They started well despite the long trip to Somerset and opened the scoring in the 14th minute with Jake Smelt on target from an opportunity created by Josh Johnson.

Paulton made a prompt response, however, with an equaliser from Wayne Nderemani in the 17th minute after a break on the right by Kitan Taiyeoba.

The game remained level until the interval, but Ivybridge regained the lead two minutes after the restart with a goal from Ryan Smith.

Leading scorer Kai Burrell completed the scoring for Ivybridge with his 16th goal of the season in the 72nd minute.

Paulton reduced their arrears through Dan McBeam in the third minute of stoppage time, but Ivybridge held on to book their place in the final four of the competition.

Ivybridge joint manager Brad Gargett praised his players, saying: “They played really well against a good team.

“We took the game away from them in the second half when we opened up a two-goal advantage.”

It has been an impressive run to the semi-finals for Ivybridge, starting with a 4-1 win over league leaders Torpoint, followed by away victories over Helston and Paulton.

Ivybridge will now meet either Devizes Town or Bradford Town, who are due to complete their quarter-final on Tuesday evening (Feb 17).

In the meantime, Ivybridge are set to play their first league match since January 10 when St Blazey make the trip to Erme Valley this Saturday (Feb 21).