Tivvy fail to make chances count in London

The first of two games over the Bank Holiday weekend saw Tiverton Town make the journey to London to take on newly promoted Hanwell Town. Tiverton got the game underway on a very lush looking pitch in very warm conditions and nearly scored in the first couple of minutes when Niall Thompson was put through on goal his effort was blocked but the ball came back to him and he played the ball to Kane Simpson who shot just wide of the Hanwell goal. Tivvy had started brightly but as the game went on the home side started to see more of the ball and were controlling the midfield. Both teams were cancelling each other out and shots at goal were limited.

The best chance of the game so far fell to Hanwell number eleven Jack Hutchinson who's first time effort went just over the Tiverton bar. The home side were then awarded a free kick on the edge of the Tivvy box in a central position. The resulting free kick was curled around the Tiverton wall but went just wide of the goal. With twenty minutes gone the home side had a great chance to take the lead when Conrad Lucan ran through the Tivvy defence and would have scored if it wasn't for the outstretched leg of Tivvy keeper Lewis Williams which deflected the ball out for a Hanwell corner. From the corner Tiverton cleared the ball up field to Joe Oloughlin who took off up the wing and played a great ball to Kane Simpson but just as he was about to shoot the Hanwell defender slid in with a saving tackle to stop the striker in his tracks and the ball was cleared up field and this time it was Joe Belsten in the Tiverton defence who put in a great tackle to stop the home side from scoring.

On forty minutes Tiverton's best chance of the half fell to Matt Buchan who got on the end of a Tom Purrington cross but put his header just wide of the goal. A minute later Buchan again found himself infront of goal and went to go around the keeper but Hugo Sobte in the Hanwell goal managed to get his hands to the ball to foil the Tivvy attack. With the game entering the final minute of the first half Hanwell number nine Conrad Lucan saw his low shot from just inside the Tivvy box beat Williams and find the corner of the net to make the halftime score 1-0 to the home side.

The second half was only two minutes old when Tiverton number ten Niall Thompson put the ball into the Hanwell net but was judged quite rightly to be offside. This seemed to spur Hanwell on as they went straight up the other end and a great passing move split the Tivvy defence and again Williams in the Tiverton goal was called on to save the day and keep Tivvy in the game. Tiverton made a couple of changes in a bid to get back in the game with Alfie Moulden and Matt Buchan being replaced by Jordan Lam and Dylan Jones. But to be fair nothing really changed as Tivvy still found it hard to break down the Hanwell defence. Tivvy made their final change with Craig Woodman replacing Joe Oloughlin but Hanwell were more than happy to run down the clock. The referee indicated that there would be three minutes of added on time at the end of the game and within that time Tiverton had one more opportunity but Kane Simpson put his header over the bar and the game ended

Hanwell Town 1 - 0 Tiverton Town