Page 4 - Yate Town FC v Tiverton Town 050322

Good afternoon and a warm welcome to all of our supporters, and to Scott Rogers, his players,
staff, the club officials and all the travelling fans from Tiverton Town. We hope you enjoy your
visit to the South West Interiors stadium today. We would also like to extend a special
welcome to our club sponsors for the 21/22 season, we rely heavily on their generosity and
hosting them today is all about building enduring partnerships. Thank you to
Trashman Clearance Charles Saunders Kelly Bros MDT Autos
Northavon Carpentry PJ Bryer South West Interiors Southern Plasticlad
Sprint Print The Kitman Vivid Construct Macron Store-Cardiff
Looking back at last week it wasn’t the result we wanted and sometimes you just have to
accept that on the day Met Police were the better team. The Police produced a master class
in game management and demonstrated why they look likely to be strong contenders for
promotion at the end of season. The London-based outfit, now up into second place, moved
into a two goal lead before the break and then defended in depth during the second period
while improving their goal difference with two further strikes. It wasn’t all one way traffic
though and the Bluebells enjoyed their best spell early in the game. A Matt Bower header from
a Joe Tumelty corner was blocked on a packed goal-line before Luke Hopper just over-ran the
ball when he was played into space. The visitors' Liam Ferdinand, who was to have a huge
influence on the overall outcome of the game, notched the opening goal after 22 minutes
when he ghosted into space on the near post to turn in a low left-wing centre from Oliver
Knight. Matt Bower had another header saved by Liam Beach as Yate Town tried to get back
into the game and a timely last ditch tackle from Will Wickham robbed Ollie Mehew as he lined
up a shot on goal. The visitor’s second goal came soon afterwards after Ferdinand had taken
the ball away from Sam Kamara in midfield. Despite a fair amount of possession after the
break, and several attacking minded substitutions, the Bluebells never really created the
breakthrough to get back into the game and the only real effort that produced a glimmer of
hope was a long distance shot from Ollie Mehew that Beach turned over the crossbar for a
corner. Worryingly Andy Hannah needed lengthy treatment after racing off his line to head the
ball clear, moments later he was called into action parrying a shot from Knight only for
Ferdinand to react quickest to net the rebound for his side's third goal with 78 minutes on the
clock. Police put the game to bed with a fourth strike five minutes from time. Substitute Jasper
Mather was pushed in the back by Sam Turl inside the area and Ferdinand duly completed his
hat-trick from the penalty spot despite Hannah's brave effort to keep the ball out. A testing
day at the office.
During the week we should have made the relatively short trip to Taunton Town who are also
well placed to finish in the play offs, and like us had ended an unbeaten 18 match run, in all
competitions, after throwing away a 0-2 half time lead to lose 3-2 at Harrow Borough. Fair to
say both teams had a point to prove but the weather had the final say and so for the third
time this fixture has been postponed! This will now need to be re-arranged but there is a lot
of fixture congestion at the moment. With league action taking priority at the moment we
must not forget our GFA Senior Challenge Cup final which will be against Cirencester who
defeated Slimbridge in the second semi-final. The game is currently scheduled for the 29th
March when we are due to travel to Walton Casuals so another game to be moved. We only
have three more free mid-week opportunities available for postponements, and we lose one
of those for the Walton Casuals game!
So looking at our visitors for today. It was only the 19th January when we visited the Ian
Moorcroft Stadium when the Bluebells came away with the points with the game decided on
a Luke Hopper penalty and Tivvy playing the majority of the match with 10 men. That match
was near the end of a tough run for Tivvy without a win in eight league games. Mixed results
have followed but postponements have hampered the opportunity to get a good run of
games; Tivvy last played on 22 February so this will be the first game in eleven days and the
squad will be keen to stretch their legs.