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Ivybridge 27,

Cleve 15

Ivybridge face a trip to Clevedon tomorrow knowing that whatever happens, they will finish second in their debut season and have a play-off for promotion writes Tim Leigh.

They now face a long trip to Northampton­shire side Towcestrians for what promises to be a tough match, with their opponents having lost just four times in the league this year.

In the end, even a loss to Cleve would have seen Ivy through after Bridgwater lost at Camborne, but as first team coach Neil Thom­son had said, Ivybridge like to rely on themselves rather than others.

He said: 'It was an all-round great performance, every played played really well, we were up for it, up to little George DeMendon­ca taking down their Lomuesque winger.'

'It was a pleasure to beat the champions and beat them convincingly.

'The whole 26 games have been about giving us the chance to get into National League Three, and now we have that chance.

'The whole club is doing really well, the U16s, seconds and thirds all have finals to play, and the firsts showed what they're made of.'

As such, they displayed their fighting spirit after going an early unconverted try down to Cleve, with rampaging lock George Wilson getting his name on the scoresheet twice as they came back strongly at the champions.

With both tries being converted by fly-half Matt Grieveson, Ivy­bridge had a comfortable 14-5 lead when the teams turned around.

Cleve showed why they are champions as they came out firing after the break.

They quickly scored a converted try and knocked over a penalty to retake the lead at 14-15.

It was Ivybridge's sponsors' day and they clearly wanted to impress as again they came storming back, winger Max Snowdon scorching over on 60 minutes for their third try. This was once more converted by the unerring Grieveson to give them a 21-15 lead.

While Cleve were within a score the match was still very much alive, but Grieve­son pushed Ivybridge out of reach with a brace of penalties as they kept Cleve scoreless for the last half an hour to earn a deserved victory.

Ivybridge will travel tomorrow aiming for a win, as they always do, but knowing the big­gest test comes with the play-off on April 25.