SWPL premier division

Ivybridge Town 5,

Callington Town 0

Ivybridge’s youthful side made short work of their Cornish visitors on Tuesday to warm up in style for tomorrow’s FA Vase match against Western League side Barnstaple Town writes Tim Leigh.

The Bridgers will be missing seven first-team players for various reasons when they tackle Town at Erme Valley tomorrow, kick-off 3pm, with general manager Brian Howard admitting his side face a tough task.

He said: ‘They’re going to be strong, we know that. We’ve got seven what I would call first-team regulars out for Saturday.

‘It’s a pity, it was al­ways going to be tough, but it’s just got much tougher. We’ll just go and show our work eth­ic, which has been excellent, and see what happens.’

The encouraging thing for Howard is how well his young players adapted against Callington, earning an emphatic victory.

The first half saw Ivybridge take a comfortable 2-0 lead, with both goals scored by striker Steve Sutton and provided by left winger Jordan Walton.

In the words of How­ard, Ivybridge ‘dominated’ the second half, with further goals from teenager James Rowe, Luke Brown and a su­perb free kick from Walton.

Things were so comfortable for the home side that they were able to bring on two 16-year-olds with 15 minutes to go, who How­ard said acquitted themselves well.

Commenting on the game, Howard said: ‘It was a very good performance, it was a young side but we played well. It’s very satisfactory to win and keep another clean sheet.’

This victory came hot on the heels of a routine showing against Ex­mouth Town on Satur­day.

The match was competitive for the first 20 minutes, but Ivybridge were rarely troubled thereafter as they cruised to a comfortable win.

The first half ended goalless, but Ivybridge took the lead early in the second half when a long ball by ‘keeper Josh Oak found Rowe unmarked, allowing him to put away a simple finish.

The Bridgers doubled their advantage on 75 minutes when a good ball down the left found Sam Stevens, who headed on for Steve Sutton to finish well from the edge of the area.

Howard said: ‘We controlled the game for all but the first 20 minutes, and we were very strong in the second half, I don’t think Josh Oak had a save to make.’