SPECTATORS who braved the wet and windy conditions were treated to an eight-goal thriller as Ivybridge Town battled to a 5-3 home victory over Helston Athletic in the Jewson Western League at Erme Valley on Tuesday evening (March 10), writes Graham Hambly.

It was a welcome return to winning ways for Ivybridge following the disappointment of their defeat by Bradford Town in the semi-final of the Les Phillips League Cup.

They showed the necessary spirit to battle back after twice finding themselves two goals in arrears against Helston, who raced into a 2-0 lead with goals from Liam Eddy (8th min) and Connor Paine (24th min).

Ivybridge reduced their arrears with a goal from Cameron Patterson in the 42nd minute but found themselves trailing 3-1 when Eddy scored his second goal of the game five minutes after the interval.

Ivybridge controlled the rest of the match, scoring four more goals without reply from the visitors.

James Forrest, who had an outstanding game in midfield, rounded off some good work by Kaycee Ogwu with a neat finish in the 55th minute and Patterson equalised with his second goal in the 61st minute.

Then substitutes Charlie Menear and Owen Howard wrapped up victory for Ivybridge with two late goals.

Menear provided the finishing touch after a fine run by Josh Johnson in the 83rd minute and Howard, the only player to have appeared for the club at every age group from under-seven to the first team, scored his first senior goal in the closing minutes.

Ivybridge joint manager Brad Gargett was pleased to see the side get a win after suffering two defeats following their exit from the League Cup.

He said: “The cup semi-final defeat was a big disappointment, and this win should give us plenty of confidence. We did well to come back after twice being two goals down.

“We missed a lot of chances in the first half but started brightly in the second half and did well in the difficult conditions.”

There was praise from Ivybridge officials for the immaculate condition in which Helston left their changing room after the match with Gargett commenting: “Our thanks go to Helston. It was a class act after playing in such wet and muddy conditions.”

Ivybridge now face a long trip to Brislington on Saturday (March 14) with their next home fixture against Oldland Abbotonians on Saturday March 21.

Image courtesy of Iain Mellis Photography.