Southern League Division One S&W

Tiverton Town 1 Taunton Town 0

A STUNNING strike by former Plymouth Parkway striker Levi Landricombe just past the hour was enough to relieve Taunton of their long and proud unbeaten away record and inflict the first defeat in nine games at a feverish Ladymead on Tuesday night, writes Kerry Miller.

It was the stand-out incident in what was a scrappy game with both sets of players and benches spending far too much time screaming at the officials but the crowd of 344 provided a tense and excited atmosphere.

Landricombe showed his pace with the first real attack but was denied by Owen Irish; then Ben Carter and Rob Farkins caused trouble down the right flank before they were also crowded out as the game briefly threatened to come alight.

Landricombe then sparked the touchpaper with a foul which brought him a yellow card and, from that moment, both referee Mark Derrien and his senior linesmen were subjected to a barrage from both benches and sets of players.

Former Taunton players Ben Mammola and Steve Kingdon had efforts cleared off the line in the same attack before, at the other end, Jordan Rogers found room to cross for Dale Evans but his effort was scrambled away on the half-hour.

Jordan then flicked-on for Craig Veal to go clear but Joe Perry was out to narrow the angle a save low down.

It was the last meaningful moment of the half as the game deteriorated with stoppages for lengthy arguments and injuries and it was a relief when half-time arrived.

From the restart, Rogers was strong twice, first volleying over then having an effort blocked before Owen Howe raised the temperatures on and off the field again with a clumsy challenge on Rogers which brought him a booking.

With Taunton still discussing that incident, Mike Williams ventured forward on the right and found Landricombe who curled a peach of a shot past Lloyd Irish for what proved to be the winner.

Tivvy were seemingly too streetwise for the visitors and sucked them into a verbal and physical battle which Howe seemed to overstep when he crudely chopped down Charlie Hitchings but somehow avoided a second yellow card from the overworked referee Derrien.

The delay brought ten minutes of injury time and, with the crowd at fever pitch and keeper Irish joining everyone else in the Tivvy penalty area, Ben Carter’s corner reached Jamie Short who crashed a perfect volley towards the top corner only to find Perry clawing it away with the last touch of the game.

The sides will do it all again on Tuesday at Taunton’s Wordsworth Drive.