Tribute Western Counties (West)

Devonport Services 22

Ivybridge travel to Exeter Saracens with hopes high of satisfying coach Neil Thomson's wish of a loss-free October.

With the following week's fixture against Honiton, along with Saracens not setting the league alight this season, the confident Ivybridge youngsters have every chance of completing their task.

With last Saturday's tense 25-22 victory over derby rivals Devonport Srvices their third in a row, Thomson admitted he was scratching his head trying to remember the last time the club put such a run together.

Ivybridge have made something of a speciality of late charges this season, and the same was required in this occasionally fractious encounter, with the Bridge also picking up two yellow cards en route to victory.

Bradley hit the post early on as Ivy settled quickly, missing another kick, but was left rueing the misses when former Ivybridge player Matt Anstiss kicked Devonport into an early lead with five minutes gone.

Ivy's problems were compounded when centre Tommy Newman, who twisted an ankle, was forced off, meaning an interesting reshuffle, with 18-year-old Matt Grieveson coming on at scrum-half and fellow teen Sam Kingscott moving to the centre.

This disruption seemed to affect Ivybridge, who struggled for momentum until the 30-minute mark, when lock forward Loomes won a line-out in a good area and offloaded to prop Matt Finn, who barged over under the posts.

With Bradley making no mistake with the simple conversion, Ivybridge were in the lead at 7-3. However, with just two minutes left until half-time, Ivybridge captain Rory Wakeling incurred the wrath of the referee and was sin-binned, with the Services' forwards subsequently forcing a converted try to retake the lead as the referee signalled half-time.

With Wakeling still in the sin bin as the game restarted, Devonport made the most of their advantage when captain Richard Young, who left Ivybridge for Services in the summer, barrelled over to score. With Anstiss converting to make it an ex-Ivy score combination, the Bridge found themselves ten points down with still six minutes left at fourteen men.

They managed to hold on for that period, and on 50 minutes Bradley stroked over his second penalty to get Icy back within a score at 10-17.

With momentum building now for the Bridge, on 58 minutes they scored their second try, and probably their try of the season thus far.

With the forwards rumbling forward well and sucking in defenders, the ball was spun from right to left with deft hands until it reached Tom Scoles who, with work to do, sidestepped through the defence to complete a fantastic team try out wide. With Bradley missing the extras, Ivy were two points down going into the final quarter.

It was then Devonport's turn to hit back with their third try, unconverted, to extend their lead to seven points once again at 15-22.

Ivy came roaring back at Services, with another slick line-out move resulting in hooker Nathan Webster scoring and Bradley tying things up at 22 points apiece.

The travelling Devonport supporters were amused to note at this point that the score read 22-23, due to the Bridge only having three number twos for the scoreboard. The smile was wiped off their faces, however, on 75 minutes, when a high tackle gave Bradley the chance he needed to give Ivybridge a slim 25-22 lead.

There was just time for another twist, however, as Ivy flanker Scott Puleston was sent to the sin-bin with two minutes left, giving Devonport the choice of a penalty for a draw or the possibility of a try to win.

Captain Young opted to kick to touch, but when the throw went awry, Ivybridge had secured a hard-fought victory.

Coach Thomson was in effusive mood about the team spirit at the moment, pointing out that thirteen members of the team have come through the club's youth system, and stating how much the boys were enjoying training, playing, and each other's company, engendering the atmosphere needed to keep on fighting, and winning, these tight games.