FA Cup preliminary round replay

Tiverton Town 0 Taunton Town 2 

A SWEET strike from young full-back Josh Searle three minutes from time cemented a fine victory for the Peacocks and put them one up in the three match series which ends this Monday, again at Ladysmead writes Kerry Miller.

It put to bed what was an intense FA Cup replay which had little chance of emulating the chaos of the 4-4 draw at the Viridor Stadium but simmered well and came to life on the hour.

Town were missing both Adam Kelly and Craig Veal who were unavailable while Tivvy fielded seven former Taunton men but it was Taunton who were out of the blocks first as Pierce Mitchell and Brett Trowbridge went close in the same attack.

Ben Mammola then blazed over in Tiverton's first real foray.

Taunton were seeing more of the ball and on 19 minutes they took the lead when Ollie Chamberlain collected the ball on the left and cut in before beating Joe Perry with a curling strike in front of the travelling fans.

Matt Wright was having a battle royal with Steve Kingdon but felt aggrieved when he was cautioned by referee James Durkin, son of former Premiership official Paul, presumably for dissent.

Tivvy rallied towards the end of the half and Craig Duff's good work ended with Jamie Price's header being gathered by Lloyd Irish to ensure his side went in a goal up.

Within minutes of the restart Wright had launched a shot from on the touchline near half way which had Perry struggling but on the hour the game moved up a notch when Levi Landricombe, who netted a hat-trick and became a father on Saturday, slid in on Irish, leaving him on the ground for several minutes.

The striker was booked to the fury of the home crowd who were convinced he made no contact, but it served to light the touchpaper, home boss Martyn Rogers adding to it by introducing Owen Howe in place of Duff.

Landricombe then volleyed over from 40 yards before his superb cross found Price who nodded just wide.

Tiverton were getting stronger and Taunton defended deep with Ed Palmer having a fine game but Price missed again from eight yards out with 20 minutes left and Town had seemingly weathered the storm.

Jordan Rogers brought a save out of Perry late on but Tivvy had one final chance when former Willand Rovers striker Tom Bath fired wide, which proved to be a big miss.

In the next attack with Tivvy committed forward, Palmer went on a penetrating run and his inch perfect pass was put away by Searle to cue wild celebrations and guarantee a home tie with Cinderford Town on Saturday week.

Taunton pocket £1,925 for the win with the chance of another £3,000 in the next round, which will definitely be a bonus considering the combined attendance of the two derby matches was less than 850, a sign of the times in non-League football.