‘Shocking defending’ is the undoing of Ivybridge Town

SLACK defensive work proved costly for Ivybridge Town as they lost 3-0 away to Sidmouth Town in the Jewson Western League on Tuesday evening (Sept 15), writes Graham Hambly.

It was their fourth successive defeat since winning 4-3 at home to Liskeard Athletic at the beginning of the month and they have conceded 15 goals in those four games.

Ivybridge were without regular central defenders Nick Salop and Dan Vile for the trip to Sidmouth while attackers Josh Johnson and Chris Harvey were ruled out through injury.

Sidmouth opened the scoring after only seven minutes when Cholwe Hachipuka headed home from a free kick by Danny Pym.

Louis Spalding made it 2-0 from a pass by Ryan White in the 36th minute and Spalding completed the scoring in the 49th minute from an opportunity created by Hachipuka.

Ivybridge joint manager Ben Washam said it was a difficult evening for his side, adding: “There was some shocking defending from set pieces.”

On the positive side, however, he commented: “We created chances and might have scored when Colin Pritchard forced a smart save from their goalkeeper after good work by Jack Rider.”

Ivybridge have a blank day on Saturday and will then be hoping to get their season back on track with a run of three successive home fixtures.

They face Okehampton Argyle in the first round of the Devon County St Luke’s Cup on Wednesday evening (Sept 23) and that game will be followed by league matches against Portishead Town on Saturday, September 26 and Clevedon Town on Saturday, October 3.

Washam says: “We have a weekend off, but we will be in for a training session and take the opportunity to re-group. We hope to have everybody back and available in time for the game against Okehampton.”