IVY LEAGUE: A talented young Ivybridge Development side lift the Fred Hewings Cup after a 5-1 win over Paignton Villa Reserves. © Derek Castree
The winners of the Herald Cup and Premier Division, both sponsored by Torbay Clearance Services, will be decided this weekend, with Kingsteignton Athletic taking on The Windmill in Friday evening’s cup final at The Rec (7pm KO), and Buckfastleigh Rangers looking to pip Brixham AFC Reserves to the league title on Saturday with a win at Elburton Villa Reserves.
The Windmill’s outside chance of holding on to top spot evaporated early last Saturday when it became clear that Salcombe Town were not going to be able to fulfil their fixture at Buckfastleigh. But it was Brixham who would end the afternoon in pole position following their 2-0 win at Ivybridge Town Reserves.
Lewis Perring scored twice for Watts Blake Bearne who defeated Newton Abbot ’66 3-1. Benjamin Berrow also scored for WBB with Lee Grimshaw responding for the Sixes who will finish seventh.
Ivybridge Town Development put on a top class performance at Totnes and Dartington F.C. last Friday night to beat Paignton Villa Reserves 5-1 and lift the Fred Hewings Cup, sponsored by Combined Roofing Contractors.
The Ivies drew first blood following a corner. Despite a valiant effort from Villa goalkeeper Adam Taylor to get the ball away, Gary Dickson found the net with a header. Taylor also got his hands to Ivybridge’s second goal after Matt Goodwin raced clear of the defence on the right and got a shot away. But Goodwin’s effort was too powerful and found the bottom left. Max Parnowski pulled off a superb save from Jay Horn at the other end, but the gap widened shortly afterwards when Lewis Dickson ran through the centre of the defence to latch on to a great pass before slotting coolly past Taylor.
If Villa had any hopes of a second half fight-back, they were cruelly put to bed a minute after the restart as Craig Brenton scored Ivybridge’s fourth. Following a decent spell, Tom Armstrong had the opportunity to pull one back for the Torbay side about five minutes later, but his shot from the edge of the box went just over the bar. As the match wore on, Villa continued to fight for a consolation, but it was Ivybridge who came closest to scoring, Taylor pulling off a fantastic save from a free-kick. With two minutes to go, Paignton Villa did find the back of the net, as Horn’s accurate free-kick beat the wall and nestled into the bottom right before Parnowski could move a muscle. Ivybridge responded immediately with a fifth goal, Brenton the goalscorer again.
“The big plan was for Martin Mitchell to take the lads all the way through from Under-10s at MAPs all the way to Under-16s, so all the credit has to go to Martin and Gary Dickson,” said Assistant Manager Andrew Moon
“To go from Under-16s straight into men’s football is a little bit daunting, but these guys have got into two cup finals this season, and we’ve narrowly lost out in another semi-final. I think we will end up finishing third in the league, so all-in-all a good season, I couldn’t ask for any more.
“I think it was done by half time, but we knew that if they scored, they were going to have a bit of a go. As I was walking off, I could hear their manager already trying to rally the troops.
We said to the boys, we don’t need to press the game. We can let them come on to us a little bit. We caught them a couple of times and put it to bed. But fair play to the guys, because they kept going and got that free-kick near the end.”
Ivybridge will now hope to go one better than Brixham Town last season and win the A&S Devon Intermediate Cup at Coach Road on May 14th. They take on St Thomas Social Club from Exeter, with kick-off at 2.30pm.
“We haven’t just been choosing our best team for these finals,” explained Moon. “We’ve got such a good squad that we’ve been mixing it around, so there are a couple of guys who will come in for the next one. It’s on the 3G, which will help us play football, so I will back us.”
Kingsteington Athletic will go into their Herald Cup final as Division One champions following their emphatic 5-0 victory over Paignton Saints at South Devon Sports Centre on Monday evening. Callum Leech scored twice for the Rams, who were four up by half-time, with Sam Barnes, Nathan Isaac and Jason Jones completing the quintet.
The win came hot on the heels of a 3-1 triumph over Saints in Saturday’s reverse fixture at Broadpark. Barnes again found the net in that game and was joined on the score-sheet by Ashley Dove and Ryan Tovagliari. Jake Powell responded for the visitors.
Having successfully appealed against a replay ruling, Ilsington Villa collected three points from their abandoned game against Torquay Town in February. This meant that Villa went into Saturday’s game at East Allington United with the title all but mathematically theirs. Dan Langford, who will finish the season as the league’s top goalscorer, added two more goals to finish just shy of a half century as Villa won 2-1, Fin Bullen responding for the Pirates. Torquay Town were held 3-3 at Barton Athletic Reserves, Simon Ross scoring twice and Simon Bracey also on target.
Division Three leaders Brixham Town won their last home game of the season 4-1 against Chudleigh Athletic Thirds. Paul Christie scored a brace, Stuart Pointon converted a penalty and Daniel Trezise found the net for Town, with Alfie Luscombe on target for Chudleigh. Brixham now prepare for a probable title decider away at Watts Blake Bearne Reserves on 20th May. WBB romped to a 7-1 triumph at Teign Village with James Moxon and Jakeb Heywood-Cann both scoring doubles. Ben Drinkwater, Matt Elmore and Nathan Williams also netted for the Claymen, while Mike Turner found a consolation for the Quarrymen.
Kai Burrel was the afternoon’s top scorer with half of Ivybridge Development’s eight goals against Discoveries Devon, as the Ivies target that third place finish in Division Four. Craig Brenton added a second brace in as many days, and there were additional goals from Callum Collings and Kai Foster.
Bovey Tracey Reserves and Brixham Town Reserves contest the Les Bishop Cup on Wednesday night at Moor Road, Ipplepen (6.45pm KO).