PRESEASON: TTFC 2-1 Ilminster Town

Match Report

Tuesday July 28th 

At The Slee Blackwell Solicitors Stadium

 

Tiverton Town 2

Palmer 11' Jagger Cane 45'

Ilminster Town 1

It was a deserved victory for the Yellows’ in their final home game of pre season, in a game where their opponent’s Ilminster gave a very good account of themselves. Asa Hall’s side were never quite at their flowing best, despite have the Lion’s share of possession throughout the evening, especially in the first half.

It was a much changed line up from Saturday, when Tiverton lost at Taunton 2-0. Ed Palmer started in the centre of defence.  Lewis Flowers, brothers Aaron and Jacob Wellington were in the line up, as were Ryan Keates and Aiden Horne.

Koerner, Hodge, Kennell and Howe dropped to the bench, player manager Asa Hall decided to observe from the touchline and Wilkins wasn't available. It was a slightly cooler evening in comparison to other recent evening fixtures.

Tiverton were the first to settle when we got underway and enjoyed early possession. With Horne as always a willing runner, Keate's busy and constructive in midfield and Palmer controlling play at the back.

A corner and throw-ins high up the pitch were the result. A second corner in the ninth minute was arrowed in by Billy Tucker. Palmer rose highest to head into the mix and found Louie Slough, who was marshalled strongly and couldn’t quite find a telling connection, to give Tivvy the lead.

The deadlock was soon broken, and it was Tiverton who had the upper hand in the 11th minute. Tucker's delivery to the back post was met by a clever flick header from Palmer that went back across goal and nestled in the bottom corner.

Two more chances then fell to a dominant Yellows. A long searching ball out of defence got Horne in around the back of Ilminster’s rearguard. His adept finish appeared to extend the lead, but an offside flag muted the celebrations of the home fans, and the linesman’s verdict wasn't met with widespread popularity.

Then in the 17th minute, some neat combination play through the thirds saw the driving A. Wellington sent through. The visitors’ keeper made himself big and saved his drilled shot with his knees.

Continuing to press, Finn Roberts firstly found the older Wellington again, but a bobble and the close attention of his marker in the away side’s box saw him closed down. The ball came back out to Roberts, and his instinctive cross in was headed fractionally wide by the onrushing Slough.

Ilminster stood resolute though, and in the 26th minute, Tivvy were piling on the pressure, but putting it on the line, the combination of the keeper and a defender determinedly blocked a point-blank attempt from Asa Hall's men.

When breaking, the visitors had on a few occasions demonstrated good technical ability. A tidy piece of link-up play ended with ex-Yellow Ed Butcher cutting inside, out on our right, but he couldn’t keep his shot down, and Louis Smith watched the ball sail over, on the half-hour mark.

The Yellows’ though were soon back on the front foot, and it was only a series of blocks, timely tackles and inaccurate final passes that kept an ascendant Tiverton from adding to their solitary goal.

The tempo to the build up play though had noticeably dropped, but with more pressure being applied at the end of the half, a hurried last ditch clearance by the keeper from virtually on his goal-line presented the ball to Louis Jagger Cane inside the area, who calmly returned the ball with interest, to send us in 2-0 at the break.

A minute after the restart from a corner, Horne neatly controlled in the Ilminster area, however his goal bound effort was well saved using his feet, by their keeper, who aside from his mistake for Tiverton’s second goal, had a good game.

Probing for further goals, Tivvy were finding their opponents a tough obstacle at times and despite the Yellows’ being on top, the Somerset side were compact defensively and working hard for each other in nullifying the attacking threat they faced.

In the 52nd minute, a lapse in communication and concentration allowed Ilminster to reduce the deficit. It inadvertently opened up for them, and their forward’s chip over Smith, despite the keeper managing to partially glove it, rolled into the goal to make it 2-1.

This ignited our South West Peninsula East opposition, and Butcher, disguising a pass, bought himself some space and bombed forward with the ball at his feet. He carried the ball to the edge of the box before letting fly with a shot that was charged down for a corner.

Nothing came from the corner, but what was evident was a more pedestrian nature to Tiverton in possession, and they were a little predictable and disjointed. Multiple changes were made around the hour mark. Karim Coulibaly, Caleb Pryce-Hall, Finn Hodge and Owen Howe all entered the field of play.

Tempers flared a little, just after the substitutes were introduced, and cards were issued to players on both sides after the game became a bit stop-start with a number of free kicks being awarded.

One recipient of a yellow was Ed Palmer, who had once again been impressive, and on 68 minutes he was withdrawn, nursing a minor facial cut, and Kennell replaced him.

A short while later the visitors made progress out wide, and as the cross fell to an opposing player in the Tivvy box, there was an excellent opportunity to level. Smith, however, closed down the space between him and the midfielder and produced a very good reaction save.

Asa Hall’s team forced successive corners as they reassumed control with less than 10 minutes of normal time remaining. Although they weren’t as dominant as they were before the break, they finished the game on top.

In the dying embers of the match, Roberts made way for Koerner. Then in the last minute of the match, a free kick for the Yellows’ out on the wing was delivered invitingly to the back post. The ball was headed back and across to Coulibaly, who for a split second had a sight of goal, but a last-ditch block closed the door.

2-1 is how the game ended and a dogged, yet decent football playing opponent like Ilminster provided a good physical test and made it tough. We wish them well in their campaign and move on to our final warm-up game away to Cullompton on Saturday.

Tiverton: Smith(GK), Flowers, Palmer(C), Slough, J. Wellington, F. Roberts, A. Wellington, Keates, Tucker, Horne, Jagger Cane

Subs: Coulibaly, Howe, Hodge, Pryce-Hall, Kennell, Koerner.(all subs used. Hall (not used)