IVYBRIDGE Town suffered a heavy 7-2 defeat away to promotion-chasing Paulton Rovers in the Jewson Western League on Saturday (April 11), writes Graham Hambly.

The victory saw Paulton retain top spot in the table with one fixture remaining.

Paulton raced into an early 3-0 lead in what was their final home game of the season.

Kitan Jaiyeoba drove home the opening goal after only nine minutes and Brandon Bak added a second ten minutes later.

Then Jaiyeoba was on target again from a pass by Max Williams in the 25th minute.

Ivybridge eventually found the target in the 27th minute when Chris Harvey reduced their arrears with a header.

Paulton restored their three-goal advantage before the interval when Bak headed his second goal of the afternoon from a pass by Jaiyeoba in the fourth minute of first half stoppage time.

Paulton continued to press home their advantage after the break with Jaiyeoba completing his hat-trick in the 46th minute. He then created an opening for Stan Wyatt to make it 6-1 in the 54th minute.

Paulton rounded off their scoring in the 82nd minute when Bak completed his hat-trick by converting a penalty awarded for a foul on Krystian Woods.

Ironically, on an afternoon that largely went the way of Paulton, Ivybridge had the last word in the 86th minute with a goal from James Forrest, who powered home a great shot from the edge of the penalty area.

Ivybridge joint manager Ben Washam admitted it was a disappointing afternoon for his side.

In fairness, Ivybridge were without some of their more experienced players because of injury and Washam said one of the encouraging features was the performance of 16-year-old substitute Jack Rider in central midfield with Washam adding: “He is one for the future.”

In recent weeks Ivybridge have put together a few decent results as they move towards the end of the season with Washam commenting: “Paulton had a lot to play for and we must learn from games like this and carry those lessons forward to next season.”

Paulton’s win saw then pull five points clear of rivals Torpoint Athletic at the top of the table, but Torpoint have two games in hand.

In fact, Paulton’s final fixture is a potential title decider at Torpoint on Saturday (April 18).

Meanwhile, Ivybridge also complete their season on Saturday with a trip to Bridgwater United, who are one place above them in the table by virtue of a superior goal difference,

Washam says: “We need to regroup and make sure we are ready for that game.”

Elsewhere in the Western League over the weekend, Barnstaple Town staked their own claim for the title by beating Clevedon Town 1-0, Neil Slateford with the early goal.

This compounded the Clevedon misery following their highly contested 6-point deduction, that has dashed their hopes of going up as champions.

2-1 was a common scoreline with Helston Athletic beating Oldland Abbotonians at Kellaway Park, Newquay AFC leaving it late to edge out Brislington FC and Shepton Mallet taking all three points away from Wellington AFC.

Lastly, the aforementioned Bridgwater prevailed 3-0 at Saltash United and St Blazey vs Bradford Town ended in a goalless draw.