A GOAL deep into stoppage time denied Ivybridge Town an away victory in their 2-2 at Brislington in the Jewson Western League on Saturday (Mar 14), writes Graham Hambly.

Ivybridge took an early lead when defender Joe Cook got up well to head an 11th minute goal from a cross by Jake Smelt.

But the Ivybridge advantage was short-lived as Brislington hit back to equalise through Shea Mannings in the 17th minute.

The game remained level until the interval, but Ivybridge regained the lead in the 47th minute when striker Kai Burrell converted a penalty.

From that point, Ivybridge created a number of excellent scoring opportunities but failed to take their chances while Will Tubbs pulled off some smart saves in the Brislington goal.

Those missed opportunities proved costly when Mannings grabbed a late equaliser in the fourth minute of added time, leaving Ivybridge with a share of the points for the first time since a 1-1 draw at home to Clevedon on November 1.

Ivybridge joint manager Brad Gargett said: “We created five really good chances at 2-1 and should have been out of sight but then we made one mistake and got punished.

“You can’t afford to miss that many chances away from home.”

Ivybridge went into the game without defenders Greg Eastman and Jake Lane, who were sidelined by injury, while Josh Pope went off with a hamstring injury in the 77th minute to be replaced by substitute Owen Howard.

Ivybridge now face a run of three successive home matches with Oldland Abbotonians due at Erme Valley on Saturday (Mar 21) followed by re-arranged fixtures against St Blazey on Tuesday March 24 and Paulton Rovers on Saturday March 28.

Although they are struggling near the bottom of the table, Oldland will be boosted following a 2-0 away win over Wellington on Saturday.

Gargett says: “Oldland will be much changed from when we played them earlier in the season and they will be confident after last week’s result so we will need to focus against them on Saturday.”