IVYBRIDGE Town were left reflecting on what might have been after having three penalty appeals rejected during their 3-0 home defeat by Sidmouth Town in the Jewson Western League at Erme Valley on Saturday, August 23, reports Graham Hambly.

Sidmouth had the better of the first half and took a 2-0 interval lead with goals from Louis Spalding in the 24th and 42nd minutes.

Ivybridge came out strongly after the break though and had a couple of confident penalty appeals turned down in the first five minutes of the second period. Then referee William Bennett did award a penalty for handball at the other end in the 60th minute, but Ivybridge were given a reprieve when Nathan Cooper drove his spot kick over the bar.

Cooper compensated for his miss seven minutes later when he completed the scoring with a header from a left-wing corner by Sidmouth skipper Isaac Furness.

Despite the disappointment over the penalty decisions, Ivybridge joint manager Brad Gargett admitted: “I think the right team won. It was really frustrating in the first half when we gave them too much.

“The first half was not where we needed to be, especially around first and second balls. Sidmouth were a team who earned the right to play.”

Commenting on the decisions that went against his side, Gargett said: “We thought we had scored a valid goal which everyone seemed to think had crossed the line. But the three important people on the pitch did not think it had crossed the line. That was a big moment with the game still nip and tuck.

“We came out in the second half and started really well and put them under the cosh. We hit the bar and had three strong penalty appeals, one which was an absolute stonewaller. It was not given and then they hit us with a sucker punch and did what teams do at this level and just ran the clock down.

“We had three or four decisions that went against us today but, on the law of averages, we will hopefully pick up three or four in the next couple of games.”

On a positive note, Gargett said: “We have a really young group and some of the young players would have learned a lot from today. We have got several 18 to 20-year-olds on the pitch. There were six or seven at one stage.”

There was also a bonus with the return from injury of midfielder Jacob Smelt, who impressed last season, especially with a few spectacular goals from long range.

Gargett said: “Jake has missed the start of the current campaign with a knee injury. He came on as a substitute for the last 20 minutes and looked really good.”

The defeat on Saturday, means Ivybridge have lost their first two home matches of the season but they have won two of their three away league matches against St Austell and Shepton Mallet.

Gargett believes one of the possible reasons for this is the summer work at Erme Valley which prevented Ivybridge from playing any pre-season games on their own pitch.

He explained: “We are playing at home, but it is not like our own pitch. We have got so many new players, who have not played pre-season on this pitch. We are looking for combinations and the right way to play the pitch which will come five or six games in, but at the moment it is a bit like playing away.

“You want to make your home pitch your fortress so not being able to play at home pre-season was a bit of a disadvantage.”

Ivybridge will now be looking to return to winning ways on Saturday, 30 with an away trip to Nailsea and Tickenham, who are still looking for their first win of the season.