Scorers : Jack Smith 25 / Jimmy Hinds 48, Owen Howe 61
Date : Saturday 8th November 2014 - 3:00pm kick off - Evo-stik League Southern South & West
Sholing : Lee Webber (Mike Byrne 80), TJ Cuthbertson, Sam Olaofe, Stuart Mott, Dan Miller, Kevin Brewster (Dan Mason 85), Nick Watts, Alex Sawyer, Barry Mason [c], Sam Wilson (Alex Baldachinno 68), Jack Smith. Unused subs: Tobi Adenkunle, Taurean Manders.
Yellow Card :
Tiverton Town : Chris Wright, Jake Wannel, Alex Faux, Matt Bye, Steve Goss, Tom Gardener, Jimmy Hinds, James Richards [c], Owen Howe, Ethan Phillips, James Mudge (Josh Searle 80) Unused subs: Luke Mortimer, Ed Weeks.
Yellow Card :
Attendance : 75
Man of the Match : TJ Cuthbertson
Referee : Jim Paterson. Assistants: Stuart Jack & Declan O’Shea
Sholing slipped to a defeat to Tiverton, the side they knocked out of the FA Trophy last weekend, despite leading in horrible conditions as the rain hammered down over the Silverlake Arena.
Team news : The only change to last weekend’s 1-0 winning team was in goal as Lee Webber replaced the unavailable Matt Brown. Other than that, the match day squad was exactly the same as the one that faced Tiverton last time out. Marvin McLean remains out through injury, as does Jude Nwachukwu as he recovers from the cut that left him needing 20 stiches. Stuart Hussey took charge of the Boatmen as manager Dave Diaper had a prior business commitment.
Before kick-off a minutes silence was a respectfully observed in honour of those that have fallen for their country as this is the last Sholing home game before remembrance Sunday.
Sholing got the game underway as the rain poured down, and instantly the home side took the better of the play, and just 5 minutes in Barry Mason has a shot on goal from out wide. But opposition goalkeeper Chris Wright, who was the subject of a controversial challenge on Sam Wilson last weekend, got down well to parry the effort away. Sholing continued to press on and Sam Wilson looked for Nick Watts with a through ball that would have seen Watts with a perfect opportunity to open the scoring, but the ball was well snuffed out by the defence.
Sholing looked downtrodden by the driving rain and unsurprising performances were affected, but Sam Olaofe didn’t look affected. The left-back picked up the ball around the half way line before driving forward in unstoppable fashion, he broke several tackles before putting a ball in that didn’t get the connection it deserved.
Tiverton’s first real chance came from a lofted ball over the Sholing backline meant Owen Howe was through on goal. He pushed towards the Sholing goal he was closed down by the on-rushing Webber, but the goalkeeper’s clearance didn’t clear the danger and left Webber in no-mans-land. Webber then abandoned his box to tackle the ball, had he not succeeded Tiverton surely would have taken the opportunity of the open undefended goal.
But 5 minutes later it was the Boatmen who opened the scoring, and what a goal it was. The home side pressed forward in numbers, but they couldn’t find a way through the resilient Tiverton back line. So it took JACK SMITH to pile drive a thunderbolt home from around 25 yards out to answer the calls for him to shoot. The finish was sublime, finding the left-side of the net beating the diving Wright.
Tiverton tried to respond, and it looked like they had equalised quickly as Howe was left alone with the goalkeeper again, but the number 9 obviously left his shooting boots at home as his strike was tame and Webber threw his hat on it.
Sholing then wasted a good chance to make it two. Goal scorer Jack Smith found Alex Sawyer open in the middle of the box, the midfielder took a few touches before his strike which was high and wasteful. The finish didn’t compliment the brilliant ball from Smith to find him open in the box.
The final few minutes of the first half saw Barry Mason have another shot saved after connecting with TJ Cuthbertson’s cross, Tiverton’s Matt Bye stretched Lee Webber into making a decent save on the ground. Where as Tiverton keeper Wright had a few difficult moments with long strikes, fumbling some he would have caught had the conditions not been correct. HT 1-0
Tiverton started the second half in the most ideal way, scoring. The Boatmen defence seemed to have left all their hard work in the first half and no one came to meet the Tiverton pressure, and a cutting pass found Jimmy Hinds who simply had to tuck the ball past the helpless Webber. And with the fans barely back in their seats, the away side were level.
Alex Sawyer must have thought he was going to retake the lead for his side as a slip, not a rare sight in the conditions, almost cost Tiverton dearly. But in the 1-on-1 situation Sawyer couldn’t compose himself, and his finish was non-existent as the ball bobbled wide.
It was costly for Sholing as just a few minutes later, the away side completed the turnaround as Owen Howe, who missed several chances in the first half, finally found the net. Another defensive error saw Howe stand alone at the back post as Tivvy came forward, he was found and his finish was on the money to put Tiverton’s revenge for the previous weeks defeat on track.
Sholing continued to fire off target and resorted to long strikes in frustration at not being able to break down the Tiverton back line. The second half was a 3 way dual between the teams and the conditions as many players lost their footing on a soaked and in places saturated pitch at the Silverlake. Ultimately this caused the action to die down.
But with 10 minutes to go a 1-on-1 situation for Tiverton left Lee Webber unable to continue as he was hurt in his challenge, with no goalkeeper on the bench the Boatmen were forced to turn to defender Mike Byrne to glove up. Later it emerged that Lee Webber had to go to Casualty after the game for stitches on a deep cut on his thigh.
The final 10 minutes were messy with players and fans unhappy with the referee, and despite Sholing bringing Dan Mason on in the closing minutes to add to the strike force, they were not able to get anything from the game. FT 1-2
Report by Ollie Maskell