SWPL EAST Torridgeside 0 Ivybridge Town 5

A Chris Wright hat-trick enabled impressive Ivybridge Town to maintain their unbeaten start in the South West Peninsula League.

Ivybridge have won eight and drawn one of their nine matches as they extended their lead to six points at the East Division summit. Second placed Bridport suffered their first defeat on Saturday, 4-3 at Stoke Gabriel.

Wright put Ivybridge on the way to victory at Torridgeside with an early strike and Jack Alexander, who was a constant threat with his attacking play on the left, added a second before the interval.

There was more of the same from Ivybridge in the second half with Rio Daly scoring his first goal for the club before Wright added two more to complete his hat-trick.

The result was all the more impressive as Ivybridge were without leading scorer Luke Forward and regular striker Stan Lane, who were both unavailable.

The convincing scoreline sees Ivybridge boost their goal difference with an impressive tally of 35 goals from nine games with only seven conceded.

The clean sheet at Torridgeside was thanks to some sound defensive work with Jordan Powell switching to right back while Josh Zimmerman partnered skipper Scott Pocock at central defence.

Powell took the man of the match award with his overall performance, including some lively overlapping runs.

Ivybridge joint manager Wayne Gamble was delighted with his team’s display, commenting: “We moved the ball well and showed patience when necessary. Although it was good to score five goals, we could have had more with the number of chances we created.”

Credit is also due to referee Brandon Hawkins from Plymouth, who impressed with his handling of the game after being called in as a replacement when the original official became unavailable.

Ivybridge now have a run of three home fixtures with league matches against Teignmouth on Saturday (Sept 23) and Honiton the following Saturday September 30 in addition to an attractive midweek cup clash against Torquay United in the first round of the Devon St Luke’s Bowl on Tuesday evening (Sept 26) (7.30pm).

Gamble is looking forward to the visit of Teignmouth, who won 6-5 at home to Bishops Lydeard on Saturday.

He says: “They are scoring lots of goals, but they are also leaking a few at the back.”

Ivybridge are also keenly anticipating the cup clash against Torquay with Gamble adding: “We hope to have a decent crowd for that fixture.”

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