‘Men against boys’ as Bovey Tracey AFC ship four

BOVEY Tracey AFC were “well beaten” by Liskeard Athletic on Tuesday, October 13, with manager Ben Gerring commenting: “I thought it looked like a team of men against boys.”

Their visitors from Cornwall were far more physical, more vocal and more determined on their way to a “thoroughly deserved” three points at the Western Counties Roofing Ground.

It took less than five minutes for Liskeard to break the deadlock, Jack Crago evading the sliding challenge of Owen Stockton before sending it across the box for James Lorenz to roll it home.

Credit to Bovey who wasted no time to respond, levelling the score before the clock hit 10 minutes.

Josh Webber’s cross was flicked on by Ollie Aplin beyond the oncoming Oliver Chenoweth, leaving Stuart Bowker to round out the move from a few yards out.

From there, the hope was that the game “might even itself out” but instead, Bovey were once again “put under massive, massive pressure.”

First Liskeard struck the crossbar and then it was the post later in the half with the ball eventually finding the net in that passage of play only for the linesman to raise his flag.

In and amongst the barrage at one end, Bovey’s Louie Roberts was shown a yellow card when he jumped for and was clearly second to an aerial ball.

The Moorlanders weren’t best pleased by this decision, citing a similar incident the other way which was given as just a foul.

Their ire only increased when Bowker was left in a heap following a tussle with Josh McCabe, accusing the Liskeard skipper of having purposefully stamped on him.

Andy Collings was out quick to make one really athletic save but a “bizarre” period pursued just before the break, Bovey finding themselves 3-1 down “in the blink of an eye.”

A cross-come-shot from Lorenz floated over the head of Collings and into his goal and as if this wasn’t bad enough, Liskeard were attacking again within a matter of seconds of the restart.

Harry Probyn challenged the Bovey ‘keeper to a bouncing ball which in turn, fell for Crago to sweep home into the empty net.

Gerring labelled his side as “shell-shocked” in this instance and, at the turnaround, he replaced Bowker and fullback Charlie Stevens with young duo Tom Ross and Leighton Green.

It was much the same at the start of the second half though, the Bovey goal living a very charmed life from a few incisive set-pieces.

The next roll of the dice saw Levi Landricombe join Aplin up front, going on in the place of Cal Leech.

At this stage, Bovey were firmly camped in the Liskeard half but the visitors’ low block was proving difficult to penetrate.

Cross after cross came in only for standout performer McCabe, or one of his fellow defenders, to head it clear.

Searching for a route back into the game, Bovey were susceptible to being caught on the break.

Crago hammered one off of the woodwork and Lorenz forced Collings into a stretching save but the hammer blow did eventually come, Crago on hand to secure the three points for Wayne Gamble’s side.

In truth, it was a fairly attritional second half to watch and Liskeard had the answers to all of Bovey’s questions.

Gerring was under no illusion as to who was the best team on the night, saying after the final whistle: “I thought [Liskeard] were excellent and I can see now why they’re a top five team in this division after that performance.

He added: “If we want to do anything in this division then Liskeard have proven what it means to compete all over the pitch, to fight and win individual duels, to play for each other, if you’re going to achieve something. It was a big lesson for us today.”

On the flipside, that transition from dominating at step six to now facing the challenges that the Western League throws up is apparent to the Bovey boss.

“I think we’re a bit frail at the moment and I think we’ve taken some results this year too much to heart.

“We’re just taking it all a bit too personally at the minute and it’s effecting us during games.”

It’s not been all doom and gloom thus far in October though with victories over Street FC and Brimscombe & Thrupp (FA Vase) but it is a double-edged sword.

“The new lads that have played today, they’ve seen how good we can be in the 4-0 against Street but also how frail we can be, when we play like we did against Liskeard.”

Gerring’s message remains the same- “We will turn it around”- but he needs the squad to buy into the project.

“I’ve got players making themselves unavailable, some are injuries and that can’t be helped but I’ve just spoken in there, saying if we’re serious about knuckling down, we’ve got to commit to Bovey, to each other, for the next six to eight weeks.”

They have four more games to come this month, starting with a home clash against Brislington FC on Saturday, October 17, who have just dropped into the relegation zone due to a Wells City win at Street.