Poole Town 2 Tiverton Town 1

 

Poole Hold on Against 10 Men Tiverton for First League Victory

Written by Peter Leppington

A classic game of 2 halves.  Poole comfortably controlled the first half and went in 2 goals ahead.  A much improved Tiverton fought back in the second half, despite Warren being sent off after 52 minutes, leading to another nervy ending for Poole but this time they held on.

Poole got off to a great start when a lovely ball over the top found Luke Holmes through on goal but he was brought down in the box.  Tony Lee stepped up to take a thumping penalty (clearly writing off his chances of an England call up) to give Poole the lead on 10 minutes.  Declan Rose adapted well to his role on the left and a powerful run saw his shot blocked.  Poole doubled their lead on 26 minutes when Luke Holmes cross saw a fanastic leap from Tony Lee in the centre to head home.  Tiverton's best chance of the half came when Koszela (Tiverton's best player on the night) broke dangerously but a perfectly timed tackle from Spetch stopped th emove.  Lee had a chance for his hat-trick just before half time but shot straight at the keepeer.

Tiverton came out a transformed team.  Dawson's early effort was just kept out by Childs.  Then on 52 minutes a reckless challenge by Dawson (already on a yellow) saw him receive a stright red.  However Poole failed to take advantage of the extra man, in fact Tiverton looked the better team for the remainder of the match.  Tiverton were denied a goal by an outstanding reflex reaction sav eby Childs when Wright looked certain to score.  Poole were also searching for another - with Dickson denied by a block after Burbidge neatly cut the ball back to him.  Minutes later a strong run buy Dichkson set up Bedford but his shot was well saved.  On 69 minutes Tiverton were again denied after Childs failed to hold the ball and the subsequent shot was blocked.  It started to feel like it was not Tiverton's night.  This seemed the case after a quick break saw Simpson's shot hit th ebar, but a minute later Tiverton got their seserved goal when Koszela cleverly beat defender and keeper at the near post.  With 2 minutes of normal time + 4 extra Poole needed to hang on.  They showed they had learnt from Gosport's nightmare as they saw this time out to take their first victory of the season.

A game which saw a huge amount of cards issued and ended in ugly scenes in the far corner which I was too far away from to make any further comment.