CSWPL

Division 1 East

Totnes and

Dartington 2,

Liverton 1

For their last home match of the 2011-12 season T and D entertained Liverton United, the newly crowned Division 1 East champions, at Foxhole on Saturday.

Having gone down to a 0-5 reverse at Teignmouth last time out, T and D made just one change to the starting line up, with Angus Wilson replacing the injured Matt Solomon at full-back.

Other positional changes saw Tom Comyn moved to a forward position with Mark Ashworth filling the centre-half berth alongside Dan Hurrell.

On a firm but true playing surface, opening exchanges were even, with the pace of Joa Turner unsettling the Liverton backline and Lewcock looking dangerous on the left for the visitors.

The home side took the lead on 12 minutes with a stunning strike from Turner; Dan Wood's long upfield clearance was headed on by Comyn with Turner racing on to the ball before volleying over a helpless Hardie from fully 25 yards.

The visitors responded strongly, with Wood saving with his legs as Sercombe surged into the penalty area. The block resulted in a corner from which Farkins' header failed to find the target.

With the visitors pressing forward, T and D's best efforts came on the break; Liam Lindon, moving up from defence, just failed to make a final telling shot and on the right Turner beat defender Laughton to Ashorth's long, cross-field pass, this time his final effort was pushed to safety by Hardie.

T and D had a close escape on the half hour when the industrious Sercombe failed with two efforts from close range.

For the second half Turner was replaced by debutant Jamie Rose, who took up a position in midfield, allowing Jon Rimmer to move forward to partner Comyn in the front line. Rose settled quickly, with some strong midfield tackles adding support to Liam Collings as Liverton pushed forward in numbers.

The home side grabbed a second on the hour; Rose's drive taking a deflection off a covering defender, leaving goalkeeper Hardie wrong footed with no chance of a save.

With nothing to lose, the visitors piled forward, attacking on both flanks and forcing the T and D midfield back into defensive positions to support their overworked full-backs.

A succession of crosses tested the T and D defence, where man-of-the-match Hurrell was hard-pressed to keep the attackers at bay.

On 70 minutes Sercombe's header beat Wood, only to hit the cross bar and drop back into play, with Lindon hooking the ball away to safety.

As in the first period, the home side's best attacks came with break out of defence; Ryan Hare cut across the defensive line but failed to test Hardie before Collings' 'pick-out' pass gave Mark Titchard an opening, but again the final shot lacked conviction.

Despite the heroics of Ashworth and Hurrell, the away side's pressure finally gained tangible reward on 75 minutes.

A quickly taken free kick saw Vickery pick out Duffey, whose drive from distance was deflected past Wood in the home goal.

Liverton continued to pile forward, adding defender Farkins to their front line, but Hurrell and Ashworth, the latter showing a quiet authority in defence with the addition of excellent distribution, held firm.

With time running out, Liverton had one final chance to preserve their unbeaten run stretching back to January, but Jones's run through the T and D backline ending with him rolling the ball wide of Wood's far post.

Three points gained takes T and D level with last year's total of 41 with two games to go. This Saturday sees T and D travel to Exeter Civil Service's Foxhayes with a 3pm match kick off.