FA Cup sponsored by Eon extra preliminary round Tavistock 1 Bodmin 3 THIS was a game that Tavistock feel they could have won, however over the 90 minutes, Bodmin were worthy winners of this often feisty FA Cup encounter at Langsford Park on Saturday. Tavistock made a number of changes to their winning line up of the previous week, electing to employ 3-5-2 system in order to keep the game tight early on. However, this proved somewhat alien to the players and while the early exchanges were even, the visitors appeared to be first to the ball in all areas of the pitch. The Bodmin defence were doubling up on the dangerous Hobbs, however he still managed to break free, only to shoot wide. There was, however, a lack of cohesion in Tavistock?s play and it was no real surprise when the visitors opened the scoring. It was unfortunate for the Lambs as a result of a ?comedy of errors? that allowed a Bodmin player the space and time to fire past a helpless home goalkeeper Andy Meeds. The game continued to go from end to end and Tavistock?s Ryan Honey fired wide of an open goal while Bodmin appeared to threaten every time they went forward. Bodmin showed once again that they were more clinical in front of goal than Tavistock, seizing on another defensive mistake to extend their lead. The game started to get scrappy with the referee having difficulty in enforcing his authority. Tavistock were denied a strong penalty shout and getting visibly frustrated Glyn Hobbs was shown a yellow card for persistent infringements. After the break Tavistock reverted to a 4-4-2 formation and increased the tempo of their play. The visitors were pushed back and started to lose their composure. On the hour they were reduced to 10 men, and Tavistock were now in the ascendancy. Glyn Hobbs pulled a goal back, holding off three players to fire low into the bottom corner. Bodmin were visibly shaken, and, Tavistock went close on a number of occasions. Shane Krac and Will Stringer were controlling the midfield while Hobbs and Honey were running the Bodmin defence ragged. There was still plenty of time to turn this game around, however Tavistock showed a lack of experience and began to chase the game. With little method the result of this gung-ho approach was to leave large gaps at the back which the visitors started to expose. Again it was no real surprise when Bodmin scored again. The game was now essentially over as a contest, however the action wasn?t; what was always bubbling under the surface, exploded into a 16 man brawl which saw the expulsion of Ryan Honey and numerous yellow cards. This was a game of two halves, but the lesson to be learnt is that you cannot give a team of Bodmin?s ability a two goal start and realistically expect to beat them. This was a disappointing result not just for the players and management, but also for the whole club, where certain individuals have worked hard behind the scenes to provide an infrastructure for success, not forgetting the supporters who turned up to add their vociferous backing.
