A PROMISING start ended in disappointment for Ivybridge Town as they suffered their first defeat in eight South West Peninsula League matches, losing 3-1 away to Torpoint last night.

The match began well enough for Ivybridge with Fletcher Williams shooting them into the lead from a free-kick after 15 minutes. The visitors remained on top for the remainder of the first half but failed to find the vital second goal.

There was more of the same at the start of the second half, but the turning point came on the hour when Williams squandered a decent chance to double his side’s lead.

The miss proved costly shortly afterwards with Torpoint equalising when Ryan Richards punished a rare goalkeeping error by Kane Gregory. That gave Torpoint the encouragement to go on and wrap up victory with further goals from Paul Heveran and Callum Holder.

Ivybridge played the final quarter of an hour with 10 men after central defender Harrison Harvey-Searle was dismissed for collecting a second yellow card.

It was the first league defeat for Ivybridge since losing 2-1 at home to Torpoint on September 1.

Ivybridge manager Darren Stewart said: ’It was a good game of football. We had a game plan and played really well for the first hour. We had enough chances to have sealed the game.

’I can’t fault the lads on the night for the way they played against a strong and experienced Torpoint team.’

Ivybridge will now be looking to get their league form back on track when they visit Torridgeside on Saturday (Oct 30). That match will be followed by the highly attractive home clash against Brixham at Erme Valley on Tuesday evening (Nov 2) (7.30).