AN entertaining game saw Ivybridge Town collect their first point in the Jewson Western League with a 1-1 draw at home to St Blazey on Wednesday evening (Aug 14).
In a keenly contested match, Ivybridge created a number of decent opportunities with striker Rory Busby frequently getting into promising positions and Shaun Semmens had to be alert in the St Blazey goal.
Ivybridge achieved the breakthrough in the 30th minute when a poor clearance from the visiting defence found Jacob Smelt, who spotted Semmens off his line and cleverly lobbed the ball over the goalkeeper to dip just under the crossbar.
It was a typical strike from the Ivybridge midfielder, who has scored a few spectacular goals from distance.
Ivybridge held their lead until the interval but any hopes of building on that slender advantage were dashed within five minutes of the second half when they failed to deal with a right-wing corner and Jacob Rowe seized the opportunity to fire home the equaliser from the edge of the penalty area.
There were some anxious moments at both ends during the remainder of the game with the two sides each pressing in search of a winner. Ivybridge sent on attackers Owen Pritchard and Ollie Aplin as second half substitutes but were unable to break the stalemate.
Although picking up a point, Ivybridge are still looking for their first win in the Western League and now face two successive games in knock out competitions.
On Saturday (Aug 17) they are at home to Tavistock in the FA Cup, and they then visit Newton Abbot Spurs in the FA Vase on Friday August 23.