PRE SEASON TTFC 8-0 SHFC

Pre- Season Match Report

Tuesday July 21st

At The Slee Blackwell Solicitors Stadium

Tiverton Town 8

Howe 10,54,74 Hall 38 Horne 46 Jagger Cane 64, 67 Hodge 72

Shirehampton 0

Against the backdrop of the warm evening sun beating down at the Slee Blackwell Solicitors Stadium, under the lights, for their fifth encounter of pre-season, the Yellows welcomed Bristol-based Western League Division One side Shirehampton. 

There are always a lot of moving parts in pre-season with prior commitments, and there were a few changes from the line-up that took to the field for a relatively short amount of time in Saturday’s abandoned game versus Brixham.

In a 4-4-2, the backline consisted of: Louis Smith in goal, Jack Kennell at right back, Ed Palmer and Louie Slough in the centre of defence, with Corey Koerner in the left back berth.

Jacob Wellington on the right side of midfield, with Asa Hall and Aaron Wellington in the middle, Finn Roberts on the opposite side and Aiden Horne and Owen Howe taking up the forward positions.

It wasn’t long before Tiverton were into their stride. A fluent passing move ended when Finn Roberts' speculative cross was turned away from danger and away for a corner at the near post by a Shirehampton defender, with less than a couple of minutes played.

Although the corner posed no serious threat, it was good to see the Yellows finding their groove early. It was the Shire who had the first real sight of goal though. They broke quickly, but as it opened up for one of their forward players, he couldn’t quite find the target.

Having controlled possession on Saturday, Tivvy were playing incisively again and finding their passes. In the 9th minute Howe laid off to Horne, whose fast feet took the ball in between a few defenders, but unfortunately he screwed his attempt wide of the upright.

Although a minute later, Koerner headed on and then the same combination teamed up again to give the Yellows the lead. 

The lively Horne was already leading the Shirehampton defenders a merry dance and when Koerner’s header was taken up by him on the right side of the area, he drove to the edge of the six-yard box and then turned to lay back to Howe, who emphatically hammered home.

Alert goalkeeping a few minutes later saw their Gloveman clear in the nick of time, taking the ball away from the onrushing Horne, after a long search ball over the top. J.Wellington then intercepted his clearance, but once again the keeper rescued the situation when he reached the wideman’s intended pass to Horne first.

A dominant Yellows then saw Roberts flash a shot wide. In the 18th minute, Horne, playing as a man possessed, latched onto another ball behind the visitors’ high line and it took a well-timed challenge to prevent him from doubling Tiverton’s lead.

It was permanent waves of Yellows’ pressure. An instinctive shot from Roberts from 20 yards went just past the post, and even though a Shirehampton Corner eased the Yellows' stranglehold on the match, that was only temporary relief.

On the half hour mark, Roberts was at it again, and with Tivvy back on the front foot, without looking up he rifled an audacious effort from 25 yards out, just a fraction wide of a clearly beaten keeper’s goal. 

Asa Hall’s men continued to play an attractive brand of football, with Horne on countless occasions breaking Shires’ defensive line.  Palmer was imperiously marshalling Tivvy’s backline, sensing danger on a few occasions and making smart interventions, with an assured performance from Slough alongside him.

The only surprise was that Tiverton were only one goal up, and in the 38th minute a good bit of hold-up play and a measured lay-off from Howe to Hall saw a stupendous technical strike from the player- manager rapidly disappear into the top corner. It was right out of the top drawer.

The Yellows’ intensity didn’t drop and Horne, who was running Shirehampton ragged, was once again headed off at the pass by the away side’s stopper as he was just about to pull the trigger, just prior to half-time.

A minute after the restart, he was rewarded for his efforts. Howe squared to his strike partner and a composed finish saw him slot home past the keeper, for his side’s third.

In the 54th minute, a fourth goal arrived. Slough nodded back a long throw in the box for Howe, who powerfully drove it into the back of the net.

A raft of substitutions then took place in the 61st minute and six minutes later one of those changes, Louis Jagger Cane, who had replaced the impressive Horne, had helped himself to a brace.

The forward had a sitter, a minute into his introduction and fired at the keeper from just inside the area. But in the 64th minute, Roberts, whose influence on the game was ever growing, burst down the wing and played an inviting ball across the six-yard box. Jagger Cane sidefooted into the goal.

Then three minutes later he exquisitely chipped the keeper when one-on-one. The floodgates had truly been opened, and there was a first Tiverton goal for fellow substitute Finn Hodge. The promising defender was up for a corner, adding the Yellows’ seventh with around twenty minutes still to play.

A defensive error allowed Owen Howe to complete his Hat-trick from close range, minutes later. This rounded off the scoring and a relentless and breathless 20-minute spell, in which Asa Hall’s men had scored five goals.

There were a couple of chances apiece for both sides before the game reached its conclusion, in what had been a pulsating performance from Tiverton.

Though a sterner test awaits the Yellows on Saturday, when they renew their rivalry with Taunton at  Wordsworth Drive. A word for Shirehampton, who kept plugging away, and we wish them well when their league campaign gets underway.

Tiverton: Smith(gk), Kennell, Palmer(c), Slough(61), Koerner, A.Wellington(61), Hall(70), J.Wellington(61), Roberts, Horne(61), Howe

Subs: Jagger Cane(61), Hodge(61), Flowers(70), Keates(61), Tucker(61)