IVYBRIDGE Town were denied victory by a stoppage-time goal for the second time in four days when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Oldland Abbotonians in their Jewson Western League match at Erme Valley on Saturday, March 22, writes Graham Hambly.

Oldland snatched a point with a goal from Casey Woodman after four of six added minutes – similar to Wellington’s late leveller on the previous Wednesday evening.

It proved a frustrating end to the match for Ivybridge after they had taken the lead with a cracking goal from Jacob Smelt five minutes after the interval when he powered home a typical long-range effort.

Joint manager Wayne Gamble enthused over his sixth strike of the season, saying “he only scores rockets.”

Gamble added that midfielder Smelt was his side’s man of the match, commenting: “I thought he was absolutely fantastic.”

Overall, however, Gamble admitted it was frustrating to see his side held to a third successive draw, making it nine draws from 34 league games.

He said: “At the start of this week I was adamant that we would get nine points out of three games. I thought we would win all three, but we end up getting three points. It is so frustrating.

“We had chances in front of goal again and we played some good stuff. We were definitely the better team, but we are the draw specialists. We have drawn more games than anyone else in this division.

“We defended really well today and played some good stuff. It is just something is not clicking in the forward line.”

In fairness to Ivybridge, they had a depleted side against Oldland with Jake Lane and Chris Wright suspended while Curtis Legrice was injured, and Connor Rush was unwell.

But Gamble stressed: “We had enough good enough players to go and win that game today. It was pleasing to see Fletcher Williams back on the pitch for us and starting games. He is a massive talent.”

Williams returned to action after being unavailable for recent fixtures.

Jordan Duffey also came in for praise, one save in particular being truly remarkable.

“The Oldland players were saying that Jordan was the best goalkeeper they have faced,” said Gamble. “He is on another level. He is 100 percent the best ’keeper in our division and we are lucky to have him,” adding that “He is committed for next season, which is good.”

Gamble admits that hopes of reaching a top five play-off place have now ended but has his sights on the Devon County St Luke’s Bowl with Ivybridge through to a semi-final at home to Bideford on Wednesday, April 2.

He says: “The play-off chances are gone. All eyes now are on the semi-final against Bideford. There is some silverware in sight for us. Not all is lost. We will keep the boys training keep them fit keep doing the correct things. There is no way I am letting the season fizzle out.

“We also want to finish as high as we can in the league. We want to finish in the top half of the table in our first season of Western League football.”

Next up for Ivybridge will be a home match against fourth-placed Barnstaple next Saturday, March 29, who enjoyed a 3-0 win over league leaders Portishead Town most recently.