A COUPLE of early missed chances proved costly for Ivybridge Town in their 3-1 away defeat at Wellington in the Jewson Western League on Saturday, November 15, writes Graham Hambly.

Ivybridge began brightly in difficult conditions at Wellington, where the pitch survived a morning inspection after the recent heavy rain.

Good work by the visitors saw Kaycee Ogwu and Josh Johnson create a couple of decent opportunities which were not taken.

Then Wellington scored on the stroke of halftime with James De Selincourt heading the opening goal from a corner by Sam Towler.

Johnson went close to equalising for Ivybridge at the start of the second half, but then some slack defensive work allowed Wellington to add two more goals through Douglas Camilo and Towler in the 62nd and 66th minutes.

Despite trailing 3-0, Ivybridge finished strongly and reduced the arrears with a great finish from Josh Pope in the 77th minute. They also had a couple of penalty appeals turned down.

The final blow for Ivybridge came three minutes from the end when substitute Owen Howard was sent off for a challenge.

Ivybridge joint manager Ben Washam said: “We started well and had a couple of good chances, but then we failed to defend a corner just before halftime.

“In the second half, we gave away a couple of soft goals which were poor goals to concede.”

Ivybridge were without their captain and central defender Sam Hillson, who was unavailable for the trip to Wellington.

Meanwhile, Ivybridge are hoping that leading scorer Dan Tate will be fit to return to the side for their next fixture against Oldland Abbotonians at Erme Valley on Saturday (Nov 22) after recovering from a heel injury.

There is more good news on the injury front with Nathan Lang having a successful operation on his knee.

Washam says: “Nathan had the operation on Wednesday, and it went well so we wish him a speedy recovery.”