WESTERN FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Ivybridge Town 0, Buckland Athletic 0

DEFENCES dominated as Ivybridge Town and Buckland Athletic shared the points in a goalless draw at Erme Valley in the Jewson Western League on Saturday, February 1, writes Graham Hambly.

While it proved a successful match for defenders, neither side could produce the attacking spark in the final third necessary to break the deadlock, this perhaps being partly down to the “difficult surface” in the eyes of Buckland boss Dan Hart.

It was a good afternoon for Ivybridge goalkeeper Jordan Duffey, who received the club’s player of the month trophy for January before the game and went on to become the man of the match after pulling off a couple of important saves.

Shortly before the interval, former Ivybridge attacker Luke Forward broke clear for Buckland only to be thwarted by Duffey. Then, midway through the second half, Ben Fowles had a similar one-on-one opportunity but was also frustrated by the alertness of Duffey.

Dan Hart felt that the latter chance was huge- “If we take that 1-v-1, we hopefully go on and make the scoreline a little more convincing and take the three points.”

Ivybridge joint manager Wayne Gamble said: “Jordan showed why we brought him to the club. He is phenomenal with his kicking and how quick he is off his line. He is very mobile and a massive character in the changing room for us.”

Hart also heaped praise on the opposing shot-stopper, commenting: “We did create a couple of key chances that were well saved by Jordan Duffey, who played very well.”

Overall, Gamble admitted: “The draw was probably a fair result. Both teams lacked quality in front of goal. Both teams defended well although both teams had the chance to go on and win the game.”

The game did not end well for Buckland, who had Fowles sent off following a second caution in the 79th minute. They then went down to nine men after Jared Lewington was sent to the sin bin a minute later, keeping Hart on his toes in the technical area.

“It flipped from a situation where I really felt we were going after the three points to, from a coaching perspective, I had to be very much alert to situations to try and get the best out of the group on the pitch.”

Both teams will have frustrations at not coming out on top but signs of encouragement remain as well as a clear respect between the two camps.

“It was a good draw in what has been two really good and highly contested league fixtures against Ivybridge”, said Hart.

Ivybridge will be at home again this weekend, on Saturday 8, when Paulton Rovers visit Erme Valley. That will then be followed by another fixture on their own patch, Wellington the visitors on the 15th in the Western Football League.

Buckland will also be playing at home, at Homers Heath, this Saturday. Torpoint Athletic will come up to Devon and giving that they are 11 places and 21 points worse off than the Bucks, it will be the hosts who are favourites on paper. This league has proved again and again that there are no formalities though with determined performances required week in, week out.