Salisbury 6-0 Tiverton Town

The highs and lows of football can be summed up perfectly by the Yellows last two outings. Seven days ago we were eulogising over them as they purred to a 5-0 win over Walton Casuals in the league only for that, and this match for that matter, to be quickly banished to the memories and the history books.

As performances go, with having to play 85 minutes with only ten men no sooner after the match had started, was about as good as it could be but they never looked like contenders from that moment on and three goals in each half from the hosts sealed the Yellows fate.

Once Louis Morrison was shown red for kicking out after he and Lewis Benson had become entangled, it was always going to be an uphill struggle and even more so when the resulting free kick was delivered into the box by Benson for Charlie Kennedy to head Salisbury in front and with just twelve minutes on the clock the Yellows found themselves two down when Antonio Diaz found himself with a simple tap in after a cross from the right had found him in all sorts of space.

An early change for the Yellows came in the form of Jordan Bastin coming on for Jared Lewington but still the chances just didn’t come and but for a couple of great saves from Lewis Williams the hosts could have been over the hills and far away before the interval as the Yellows were struggling to get any foothold in the game and just before half time another nail was put into Tiverton’s coffin as Charlie Kennedy rose highest to head home his second of the afternoon from another Benson delivery.

Any hopes of a second half comeback were quickly put to bed when Dom Jefferies curled a beauty into Williams net to make it four and the Yellows were still yet to register a shot on target and a quick Salisbury break five minutes later from a Yellows corner lead to Harry Baker ghosting around Williams and tapping into the unguarded net as the horror show continued.

It took until nearly 70 minutes had registered on the clock for Tivvy to have their first meaningful opportunity when a Billy Craske cross from the right was nearly put into his own net by a Salisbury defender and moments later Peck played in Bastin but his shot lacked the necessary power and direction and went straight into the grateful hands of former Yellows stopper Alexis Andre jr and 14 minutes from time the Yellows misery was complete when substitute Warren Bentley curled home the Whites sixth with the help of the crossbar to send Tiverton crashing out of the FA Trophy at the first hurdle.

Tiverton Town: Lewis Williams, Kyle Egan, Craig Woodman, Aaron Dawson, Michael Peck, Neil Martin, Andy Watkins (Cheick Diabate 55), Dan Hayfield, Jared Lewington (Jordan Bastin 18), Alex Fletcher (Billy Craske 55), Louis Morison.

Attendance: 519.