SWPL premier division
Ivybridge Town general manager Brian Howard was looking for three points in their final league game of the season tomorrow when they take on Falmouth at Erme Valley, kick-off 3pm writes Tim Leigh.
The team will be keen to bounce back from their narrow loss to Saltash on Wednesday night and ensure they finish fourth.
A frustrated Howard admitted the defeat hurt as it was a game he felt his side should have won. He said: 'We're very disappointed, we missed four really good chances and we've been scoring for fun recently.
'We had Lee Doel and Jack Alexander out, but they had a couple missing as well to be fair. We should have been three or four up by the time they scored, with 15 minutes to go.'
The first half saw neither 'keeper have to stretch themselves, finishing 0-0, but Town were the better side in the second half.
However, they couldn't put their chances away and that came back to haunt them, despite Saltash losing a player to a red card. With a quarter of an hour to go the home side scored from a free kick to nick all three points.
The Bridgers' hopes of claiming third spot disappeared with the loss, but overall this has been a cracking campaign for Ivybridge, with their attacking displays epitomised by the destruction of Falmouth last weekend.
Town ran out winners by six goals to nil against the Cornishmen on their own turf, with Mike Smith bagging two and Jack Alexander, Luke Brown, Mark Berry and Steve Sutton also finding the back of the net. Howard was pleased with his side's effort, saying: 'It was an outstanding performance, one of the best displays of the season, we scored some tremendous goals.
'The pitch was awful, bumpy and barely any grass on it. It's normally a good pitch down there, but it wasn't conducive to good football.
'Any good stuff that was played was played by us, I think Josh Oak only had one save to make all game.'
Ivybridge were 3-0 up at half-time, midfielder Brown opening the scorer after half an hour with a thunderbolt from distance. His effort was followed by Smith's opener, set up by Alexander, and the game was put out of reach of the hosts with player-coach Berry's inch-perfect free kick.
Alexander added a fourth with a fine solo run and finish before Sutton sprung the offside trap to stroke the ball past the 'keeper. Number six arrived with just minutes left as Smith showed good strength to hold off a defender and crash a shot past the 'keeper.
With Howard hoping for more of the same tomorrow, whatever happens he feels the campaign has been a success, but reinforcing his squad is the priority for the summer.
He said: 'It's been another good season for us, we've got a young side, if everyone stays, which they say they are going to, we're probably only looking at another two or three signings.
'The one thing we need is more strength in depth. I'm very happy with our first XI, but we need a few more players to add strength in depth and get more competition for places.'