Smith comes back to haunt Ivybridge Town

IVYBRIDGE Town showed great spirit to fight back into the game away at Buckland Athletic only for a former player of theirs to score a match-winner at the death.

Manager Ben Washam, who had been put through the ringer of emotions at The VX3 Stadium, felt that his side’s “naivety” cost them on Wednesday, October 14.

Buckland have been known to make swift starts and that was the case once more, Myles James pulling it back for Isaac McCue to open the scoring on seven minutes.

With half an hour gone, Josiah McKayle picked out the bottom corner from an extremely acute angle to double the advantage, having been played through well by Ryan Smith.

Mike Searle’s goal was under fire at the other end between the two goals though- he fumbled the ball straight to Kaycee Ogwu who couldn’t get enough power on his header and then there were a slew of set-pieces.

One in particular, required a couple of Buckland blocks on the line to keep it out.

There was a customary caution for home skipper Ben Carter when he went flying into a sliding tackle.

Ivybridge had the final opportunity of the first half, Ogwu’s sliced effort clanging the woodwork with Buckland eventually able to scramble it away.

It was a really watchable game before the break but after it, for a good 20 minutes at least, the evening passed by with little to report on.

Both sides turned to their substitutes, Washam first sending on Connor McAuley for Colin Pritchard before replacing Josh Johnson and Calum Fyfe with Alfie Slough and Ryan Geach respectively.

There were signs of tensions rising, with the Ivies boss being shown a yellow for something said to the ref and Toby Pullman following him into the book after leaving one in on Joe Cook.

Fyfe had a solid enough game at right back but Geach made a telling impact from the bench, his cross being met perfectly by Ogwu to halve the deficit with 10 minutes remaining.

Out of the blue, Ivybridge were then back on level terms and this was the strike of the night.

James Forrest was down in a heap but the visitors used the advantage well, Owen Howard drilling the ball into the top corner against a now “shell shocked” Buckland.

Momentum would suggest that the winning goal would be scored by Washam’s side but as the clock ticked into added time, Kane Gregory was beaten for a third time in a “criminal manner.”

Fin Herbert beat a couple of men on the right flank before sending Jamie Simmonds to the byline who squared it back for Ryan Smith to wrestle back the initiative on his return to Homers Heath.

To rub salt into the wounds, both Simmonds and Smith have previously donned the Ivybridge green.

“That’s football, it breaks your heart sometimes,” conceded Washam.

He continued: “I don’t know how we’ve come away with nothing. I thought we were the better team overall, we probably had 20 entries into the box, how we haven’t scored from a set-piece in the first half is beyond me.”

“In the last minute, our keeper has got the ball in hand so to then concede, we’ve got to do better there.

“I think we were greedy to be honest, to come away with a point would have been good but we threw it away.”

For Smith’s second debut in a Buckland shirt to come against Ivybridge was perhaps a bitter pill to swallow.

“They’ve gone and got Ryan Smith, whose had about eight clubs this year. They’ve brought him in and they’re paying him an absolute fortune and we couldn’t compete with that, to bring him back to us.

“That’s where we are, the division is two divisions in truth. With the budgets, it’s ridiculous.”

The highlight of the night for the away team had to be Howard’s wonder goal and “that strike was deserving of a point alone.”

This defeat comes off of the back of two consecutive 1-0 wins though so the club do seem to be on an upward trajectory all the same.

“For us, we’re building each year, constantly building, and considering we lost six or seven players in pre-season ourselves, I think it’s starting to come together again now.”

Ivybridge are without a game this weekend and will return to action on Wednesday, October 21, when they host Cullompton Rangers in the St Luke’s Challenge Cup.