by Pete Martin
Salisbury bounced back to winning ways with a 4-2 win away in North Devon against Tiverton Town. There were 3 changes from Sunday’s FA Trophy exit against Truro City; Dinesh Gillela, Dan Fitchett and Antonio Diaz coming in for Ethan Sutcliffe, Ben Thomson and Brandon Goodship.
Tiverton started the game on the front foot and following an early long-range attempt from Matthew Britton going well over the bar, they could have taken the lead on 5 minutes but Matthew Buchan shot narrowly wide when put through by Louis Morison and had another chance shortly after, with this time Tom Purrington the player to put the ball wide when well placed. Despite the early Tiverton pressure, it was The Whites who took the lead after just 10 minutes with Fitchett getting his name on the scoresheet. A long ball forward by Sam Roberts was handled by Jamie Richards and, although the ref initially gave a penalty, he consulted his assistant and correctly changed his mind to award a free kick just outside the area. Up stepped Diaz to swing the ball in and Fitchett was on hand at the back post to bundle the ball home from close range. Tiverton bounced straight back up the other end and Charlie Davis needed to be well placed on the line to prevent Purrington from converting a quickfire equaliser. Shortly after the quarter-hour mark, Salisbury doubled their lead via a fantastic curled free kick from Diaz from just outside the area. Tiverton again continued to push forward and a sharp save from Gerard Benfield was needed to deny Buchan with his headed effort. At the other end, a quick break saw Seokjae Lee draw a fingertip save from Lewis Williams in the home goal with the subsequent corner amounting to nothing. The remainder of the half saw Tiverton continue to press to find a way back into the game and despite some half chances, they were unable to properly test Benfield with a Joseph O’Loughlin effort the closest they came.
The Whites took just 3 minutes of the 2nd half to add to their tally and it was captain, Darren Mullings with the goal. The ball came forward and a clever flick from Fitchett found his skipper breaking beyond the defence to fire home at the near post. As had been the pattern for most of the game, Tiverton was the dominant side in terms of possession but struggled to create many dangerous situations in front of goal. Alfie Moulden had a couple of efforts from distance but it was the away side that added to their tally just after the hour mark with Diaz timing his run into the box perfectly to head home from Lee’s fine cross from the right-hand side. Once again Tiverton continued to push forward and on 71 minutes Diaz needed to be alert to clear the ball off the line from Purrington’s shot before 7 minutes later the same player shot straight at Benfield when well placed. Just 2 minutes later Tiverton did get a goal back when Niall Thompson got down the right and sent it across to Moulden who fired home from inside the box. The home side continued to push on in an attempt to get back into it but a warning shot was fired as the game headed into injury time with Fitchett dragging a shot narrowly wide and with virtually the last act of the game Tiverton were gifted a 2nd when Benfield dropped the ball over the line as a corner was swung in. There was barely time to restart before the game was bought to a halt with the 3 points being brought home to South Wiltshire.
The Whites will look to build on this win when they travel to North Leigh this Saturday 15th October for a 3 pm kick-off.
Team: Benfield, Davis, Sommerton(Thomson), Roberts, Gillela, Wakefield, Carmichael, Mullings(Fox), Lee, Diaz, Fitchett.
Unused Sub: Matthews.
