By Pete Martin & Cover image by Roger Elliott
Following a couple of positive recent results Salisbury returned to earth with a 1-0 loss at home to Tiverton Town. For the 1st time in a long time, the Whites named an unchanged team: manager Brian Dutton sticking with the same team that beat Hanwell Town last weekend.
Images by Roger Elliott
It was a slow start for Salisbury and Tiverton were on the front foot early on. After 4 minutes they threatened twice; firstly Tom Purrington saw a shot blocked inside the area with the ball falling to Lucas Vowles who screwed his shot wide. In what was admittedly a game low on attacking quality the game’s only goal arrived after 15 minutes. A long ball straight down the middle of the defence was allowed to bounce and Niall Thompson was alert to nip in and fire the ball home beyond Gerard Benfield. There was very little in the way of goalmouth action for most of the rest of the half and it wasn’t until 3 minutes before half time that Salisbury tested Tiverton keeper Lewis Williams. A free kick from Brandon Goodship was whipped goalwards and turned over the top for a corner before Aaron McReadie fired wide when the ball was whipped in before the referee blew the whistle to end a fairly uneventful 1st half.
There was a brief scare for the home side at the start of the second half with Dylan Jones shooting well wide, before on 53 minutes Goodship headed the ball over when well placed following James Plant’s cross. There was very little in terms of penalty box play at either end with neither side able to create much. On 69 minutes the Whites came the closest they had to equalising; Goodship drew a good save from Williams before the resulting corner fell to Plant whose shot hit the outside of the post. As the game entered its final stages, Tiverton threatened again; a good move saw them get down the right-hand side and Vowles draw a good save from Benfield. With time running out neither side was able to threaten and the referee soon bought an end to a game that was low on quality in the final third.
Images by Michael Berkeley
The Whites are on the road next, travelling to Met Police next Saturday 4th March for a 3 pm kick off.
Team: Benfield, Brooks C(Tomlinson), Sommerton, Kherbouce(Roberts), Ogundega, Yang(Fitchett), McReadie, McDermott, Plant, Goodship, Fernandes
Unused Subs: Arnold D, Carmichael.
