WESTERN FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Street FC 2, Ivybridge Town 1

A COUPLE of controversial refereeing decisions saw both sides finish with ten players as Ivybridge Town lost 2-1 away to Street FC in the Jewson Western League on Saturday, January 11, writes Graham Hambly.

In fact, Ivybridge were depleted after only two minutes when Sam Hillson was sent off after a challenge that many observers considered only worthy of a yellow card at most.

Then, later in the game, Street also had a player dismissed for a similarly innocuous-looking challenge on Ivybridge skipper Scott Pocock.

Ivybridge joint manager Wayne Gamble said: “Those decisions went some way to spoiling the game. However, losing Sam Hillson spurred us on, and we took an early lead before giving away two soft goals.”

Ivybridge leading scorer Owen Pritchard opened the scoring after a quarter of an hour with his eighth league goal of the season and 13th in all competitions.

Pritchard combined well in attack with Ivybridge man of the match Connor Rush as they caused frequent problems for the home defence but were unable to convert their attacking play into further goals.

Street responded with a couple of quickly taken goals from Callum Laird and Jordan Ewing to leave Ivybridge suffering a third successive away defeat.

But Gamble took some comfort from his side’s spirited performance, commenting: “Even with ten men, I felt we were the better side and deserved to get something from the game.”

Ivybridge now look forward to their first home fixture since before Christmas with second-placed Clevedon Town due to visit Erme Valley on Saturday, January 18.

Gamble commented, “Clevedon are the best team we have played all season.” He continued, “But we can look forward to being at full strength and will also have new signing Harry Jeffery joining us”, a player arriving from Torpoint.