Wimborne Town 1 Tiverton Town 0

 From the Wimborne website:

Wimborne Town 1

Tiverton Town 0

After Dan Bartlett had given Wimborne the lead on 20 minutes, bottom-of-the-table Wimborne’s ten men spent an hour heroically defending their slender lead after keeper Gerard Benfield was dismissed by referee Adrian Harris.

 

Manager James Stokoe welcomed back Jack Torniainen from his time with Eastleigh, and kept Callum Chugg and Billy Maybury as his central defence pairing.

 

The matchball hardly touched the ground during the first five minutes as both sides started nervously. Tiverton were almost gifted an early goal when Callum Chugg’s back-header was not where the advancing Benfield expected, but the big stopper got down well. The home side’s first attack saw Lewis Beale dink a cross from the right into the danger area only to be cleared. In the next attack, Benfield’s long clearance fell to Bartlett who instantly volleyed inches wide of the far post from the edge of the area.

 

After Beale had drilled a low cross from the right, and Connal Morrison had chipped over the bar as he fell backwards, Tiverton’s centre-forward Wright failed to take Tivvy’s best clear-cut chance of the game. A perfectly weighted through ball down the inside-right channel left the big striker one-on-one with Wimborne’s big stopper, but he poked the ball agonisingly wide of the far post. And that proved to be a costly miss, as the home side took the lead with their next attack. Harry Morgan won the ball in Tivvy’s half for Jez Bedford to cross low into the centre of the area where Bartlett fired into the net from 10 yards.

 

Ten minutes later came that sending off. After giving a free-kick to Wimborne on the edge of their penalty area, referee Harris took exception to something Benfield said and sent him for an early shower. With no keeper on the substitutes bench, centre-back Billy Maybury donned the gloves. And he had to make just one save before the interval, at close range from Andrew Watkins.

 

Stokoe sent his team out for the second-half wearing virtual tin helmets and flak jackets. And the home supporters became the team’s eleventh man. When Maybury caught a 47th minute cross, the cheer was so loud you’d have thought we’d won a cup final. Bouwe Bosma blocked a shot; Bartlett headed behind; Chugg cleared with a towering header; Harry Morgan made a block; Torniainen scrambled the ball away; Morrison won a tackle; Jez Bedford dispossessed a man in yellow; Curtis Young harried and chased; and Chugg thumped the ball into the car park. It wasn’t pretty, but it was pretty effective.

 

Playing towards the estate end, Wimborne did create a couple of chances. Beale ran 50 yards with the ball but couldn’t find a killer pass, Morgan’s shot was blocked, and Torniainen’s inviting cross found no taker. But most of the play was towards the other goal. Maybury punched away a high cross; he made a sprawling save from Hayfield’s 25-yarder; then he stooped to catch a low cross. After Chugg had headed clear then endangered the windscreens in the car park once more, Tiverton’s increasingly desperate attackers sent a lob from distance high and wide, it was definitely not a very handsomeeffort.

 

With the crowd cheering every Wimborne save, block, tackle, clearing header, interception, and, yes, thump into the car park, referee Harris gave a final long blast on his whistle after four minutes of additional time. The three points lift the Magpies off the bottom of the table.

 

This wasn’t just a football match – this was a football match with heroics! Every one of Stokoe’s boys gave their all for the club today. We know they can put on a proper passing performance, but this was the other side of the team we hadn’t seen too often. Brave, bold, belligerent – the boys were bl**dy brilliant. Come on you Maggies!

 

Wimborne: Benfield, Torniainen, Chugg, Maybury, Morrison, Bosma, Bedford (Cann 87), Bartlett, Morgan, Young (Henry 82), Beale (Mason 90+1)​Unused subs: Arnold, Jamison

 

Attendance: 308