SOUTHERN LEAGUE SOUTH

Tavistock AFC 0 Willand Rovers 1

TAVISTOCK AFC were beaten by Bemerton Heath Harlequins on Wednesday, 6 and made two changes to that team for this clash with Willand Rovers, writes Luca Sperti.

Joe Alman and Luke Steer entered Stuart Henderson’s XI in place of Charlie Elkington and Alex Battle.

Moving into the encounter and the away side, in their green away strip, came close to taking the lead in the third minute. Club Captain Owen Howe picked up the ball in the box, before smashing a shot which hit the top of the crossbar and went away to safety.

There were a few chances at either end before Henderson was then shown a surprising red card in the 20th minute. He flicked the ball towards a Willand player from within his own technical area but the referee deemed that he was attempting to slow down the game. The card was definitely a strange decision, with the Tavi boss sent to the stands and assistant Manager Darren Sprong taking charge of the side.

10 minutes later, the first card on the pitch went the way of Tavistock fullback Iestyn Harris for kicking the ball away after a foul by Ethan Wright.

There wasn’t much to separate the two teams in the first half in what was a notably tight game.

An eye of the needle through ball from Tallan Burns looked to find Ben Steer but the Willand number one was alert enough to deal with it, as the home team looked to turn the screw.

It was the visitors who opened the scoring though after Lambs defenders Alman and Jacob Shore went for the same ball. Young winger Harvey Dorothy was on hand to round Aaron Dearing and roll the ball into the corner, despite the best efforts of Wright on the line.

George Burton was having a field day in the Willand goal at the other end and he was able to make another couple of very strong saves to maintain his side’s lead, the tipping of one goal-bound effort onto the post being the standout stop.

After both teams had turned to their benches, Ashton Hewitt was the centre of attention, Tavi players protesting that he should be sent off for hands around the throat of an opponent but to no avail, with the officials showing no interest, only giving him a yellow card after a few minutes had passed.

Further chances came for Tavistock to equalise but Burton stayed strong and kept the clean sheet intact. Howe came close to putting the game to bed but failed, leaving Dorothy’s goal as the difference and moving his side up to 12th, with Tavi in 13th.

The Lambs are next in action on Saturday as they take on Malvern Town at the HDanywhere Stadium.