A glorious summers evening ensured that our annual one nil defeat at Tiverton wasn't all bad.
It was at the corresponding fixture last season (12th July 2008) that I first witnessed Chris Hargreaves playing at the centre of defence.
Hargreaves gave a truly Beckenbauresque performance that afternoon. When the ball was passed across the back line Hargreaves control was instant, his passes to midfielders were more accurate, incisive & better weighted than the attempts made by his other defensive colleagues & he had a thoroughly comfortable afternoon. The game of course was played at a relatively sedate pace & with a continental lack of physical challenges. As we all know, the 100mph bang crash wallop & ariel bombardment of the BSP soon highlighted the major differences between competitive League encounters & friendly warm up games and so Chris soon found himself leaving central defensive duties behind & being restored to his more familiar midfield berth.
No ground breaking experiments this time around but a far quicker & more competitive game than last year. Tivi are a reasonable side with a decent home record who have made life difficult for a number of League sides in Cup competitions over the years.
Our mixture of new faces, youngsters etc will have benefitted from the game & needn't be unduly concerned about the result.
Milton did a reasonable job in defence, Beattie was combative in midfield, Yeoman has good balance, looks the part & is the pick of the bunch for me, while Halpin again showed he isn't afraid to take on his man or shoot...even if he doesn't always do either particularly well, but if he's still only 17 the greater strength he will have in a couple of years will help him.
With comments on the match on this site & a thorough review of the match on the Clubs official site I'll contribute a few pictures instead.
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Strolling from the car to Ladysmead,a chance to reflect that a lot of water has flowed under the bridge both literally & metaphorically since last year, but Torquay are back in town & the 'pure Devon' scenary outside the ground is as delightful as ever.
It's the big one..the one we've been waiting for since 12th July 2008....Tiverton Town v Torquay United the re-match.
With 362 crammed inside Ladysmead the Gulls fans eagerly await kick off. Also a good opportunity to photograph the ball incase it's moving too fast for me later.
"I once had a good game playing central defence on this ground"
says Chris Hargreaves to a clearly disbelieving Scot Bevan.
Ahh the good old familiar sights that tell us the new football season is upon us...Blair Sturrock nursing an injury !
"If no one comes near me I can stay fit until half time"
Tiverton's No.6 (Golden Panda) launches a long throw...Strurrock considers jumping but immediately pulls a stomach muscle.
Early Bath. Beating the crowds to a half time cuppa is No.9 'Bath',also winner of the 'most startling headgear' competition
Half time entertainment: 'We built this City on Rock & Roll' played at least 4 times plus Nicky Wroe trying to impress any watching Exeter scouts
plus Carayol practising a cunning new trick..running down the left wing and then cutting inside onto his right foot
Second half....and one especially for Merse, he'll tell you that no self respecting non league ground would be caught without it's litter bins
thank goodness I photographed the ball earlier....young Yeoman
clearly ignoring my instruction 'don't kick it till I'm ready'
Milton prepares himself to face a bouncer, while Ellis looks to the bench wondering why he hasn't been taken off yet.
Halpin struggles with the uphill slope caused by the photographer
Tivertons No.2 (Golden Buddah) shows a clean pair of lime green heels to young Halpin. Far side, Ellis prepares for further fisticuffs with Morrissey & Brough ensures that Rice will be completely unsighted.
and that's it folks, game over...now the rush is on to get those nets down & the litter bins emptied before the floodlights get turned off
