Carlsberg South West Peninsula premier

Tavistock AFC 3

TAVISTOCK remain in second place behind Plymouth Argyle with an efficient, well earned victory over a good Torpoint team, who had collected seven points from their three games over the festive period.

The home team started brightly with visitors’ keeper Josh Oak going down to whip the ball off the feet of Hird as he went for goal. The Lambs responded by getting their passing game going which saw a fine effort from Luke Brown deflected against the angle of upright and crossbar. Matt David headed wide from the corner kick.

The Lambs opened the scoring in the 15th minute when another corner kick, taken by Dave Hallett, saw Warren Daw power home a header from six yards.

Play remained fairly even with both teams probing for scoring opportunities, until the 36th minute when Luke Brown was dragged to the ground in the penalty area; the referee immediately awarded a penalty kick. Jack Crago made no mistake as he fired the spot kick home.

Five minutes later Torpoint were awarded a penalty when Ruben was fouled in the area. Josh Oak made a fantastic save to deny Bevan from reducing the arrears.

Just before the interval the Lambs spurned a chance to extend their lead but Luke Brown’s effort from 20 yards flashed inches over the bar.

Play remained evenly balanced in the second half with both teams playing some fine football. Tavistock manger Stuart Henderson made some changes during the half with Sam Davey replacing the injured Jack Crago in the 53rd minute. Matt David then went close with a header from a Dave Hallett corner kick.

Josh Grant replaced Liam Prynn on the hour. Grant was soon in the action playing a fine ball through to Luke Brown but his shot went over the bar. Oak was then in action making a fine save to deny Hicks from reducing the deficit.

With ten minutes remaining Tyler Elliott replaced Hallett and it was not long before the Lambs increased their lead in the 84th minute, with the goal of the game. A flowing move saw Sam Davey play a great pass to Luke Brown who noticed that the home goalkeeper was off his goal line and calmly produced a sublime chip shot over the keeper’s head into the net.

Torpoint never gave up and were rewarded in the third minute of time added on when Cloke latched onto half chance firing home from ten yards.

This was another good efficient team performance from Tavistock, without being at their real best.

The defence were compact with both centre backs Matt David and Ben Davies in terrific form with full backs Josh Robins and Mason Hughes always looking to prompt attacks from the back. All the midfield players worked hard playing some fine football. The front three were a threat to the home defence throughout the game.

The man of the match was Luke Brown for a good all round performance. He was brought down for the penalty and produced a class finish by calmly chipping the ball over the goalkeeper from 20 yards to seal a good victory.