SWPL EAST Ivybridge Town 2 Sidmouth Town 3

Details

Created on Sunday, 12 March 2023 11:53

Last Updated on Monday, 13 March 2023 12:14

Published on Sunday, 12 March 2023 11:54

Written by GRAHAM HAMBLY at Erme Valley

FIELDING a side depleted by injuries and unavailability, Ivybridge Town completed their fifth game without a win when they lost 3-2 at home to Sidmouth in the South West Peninsula League on Saturday.

That was despite a spirited fightback that saw Ivybridge overcome a two-goal deficit to draw level only to be beaten by a late winner.

Sidmouth completed the double over Ivybridge following the previous Saturday’s 2-0 home victory and they have now won their last seven games.

Will Jenkins opened the scoring for Sidmouth in the sixth minute and Louis Jagger Cane added the second after 57 minutes.

Ivybridge battled back with a goal from Lewis Dickson in the 75^th minute and Fletcher Williams (pictured above) equalised two minutes later with his 11^th goal of the season – four minutes after coming on as substitute for Ryan Smith.

At that stage there were hopes that Ivybridge might have gone on to gain an elusive victory, but those hopes were dashed when substitute Jack Drew-Cull grabbed a third for the visitors.

The Ivybridge misery was complete as the game was about to enter five minutes of added time when Williams was sent to the sin bin for comments made to referee Neil Lane.

Ivybridge manager Darren Stewart admitted: “We are in a difficult period at the moment with no wins in five which, in my period at the club, has not happened before. Confidence and morale at the moment is pretty low.

“I think it is probably a measure of where we are at the moment that we would have been satisfied with a 2-2 draw against an improving Sidmouth side whereas, at the start of the season, we would have looked at it as two points dropped.”

Ivybridge went into the game without defenders Jake Lane (unavailable), Mitch Williams (injured) and striker Connor Rush (injured).

Stewart explained: “Mitch has done his Achilles. It has been playing up for a couple of games and it got to the point at Sidmouth last week that he had to come off. He has had it looked at and in the best case scenario he is back in four or five games but in the worst case he misses the rest of the season.”

Rush suffered a long-term knee injury in a pre-season game at Saltash and only returned to the starting line-up against Teignmouth a fortnight ago, but twisted his knee in that game and Stewart confirmed he is now out for the remainder of the season, adding: “We are waiting for an actual diagnosis of what he has done but he is definitely out for the season.”

With only two points coming from the last five games, Stewart admits that the promotion target of finishing in top spot is now an impossible task, adding: “We have to be honest with ourselves. There are two or three teams who will probably power through to the end of the season.

“I think we have to be realistic and say if we finish in the top four then that is what we set out to do at the start of the season. The goalposts changed with the breakdown of merger talks to deny us promotion. But I would like to think that we can see the season out and finish in that top four if we can.”

Next up for Ivybridge will be a couple of local derbies at home to Elburton Villa on Wednesday (March 15) and away to Plymouth Marjon on Saturday (March 18).

That is the first of five successive away matches followed by trips to Bovey Tracey, Honiton, Teignmouth and Elburton.

Stewart says: “Elburton are a tough side to beat. They don’t score many goals and don’t let in many goals. They beat us 1-0 in the League Cup on Boxing Day.

“Hopefully, we have got enough about us on Wednesday and can get back to winning ways. It is a local derby so hopefully we will have a decent crowd and then we have another local derby on Saturday at Marjon.

“If we pick up six points then the picture changes for us and gives us a bit of momentum to push through to the end of the season.

“It is a difficult period to finish with visits Bovey and Teignmouth in particular, so we have got to keep going. The boys have done so well this season, we just don’t want it to fall apart now. We have got to keep going and pick up as many points as we can.”

• < Prev
• Next >