TIVERTON TOWN 0

DORCHESTER TOWN 0

DORCHESTER Town had to settle for a point in a wasteful 0-0 Evo-Stik Southern Premier Division draw with Tiverton Town at Ladysmead.

Both sides created numerous chances, the best falling to Tivvy’s Levi Landricombe, who somehow conspired to miss an open goal after robbing Magpies’ keeper Chris Weale of possession.

Billy Lowes missed Dorchester’s best opportunity deep in the second half.

Boss Steve Thompson named an unchanged starting XI to the one that began the 2-1 win at St Ives on Saturday.

Thompson was boosted by the fitness of centre-back Callum Rose, who overcame an ankle injury to start.

Ross Carmichael, who had been sidelined by an asthma attack, was also named on the bench in place of Sol Ayunga, who played 24 hours earlier for Dorchester’s reserves in their 1-0 defeat to Winchester City.

Dorchester had beaten Tiverton 3-0 on New Year’s Day and the Magpies nearly continued where they left off when Aaron Rodriguez jinked inside in the first minute, beating two defenders before bending a shot wide of the home goal.

Less than two minutes later, the Magpies forced another opening when the tenacious Billy Lowes won possession in midfield before driving forward and unleashing a wayward shot at goal.

Tiverton were forced into an early substitution when Callum Hall replaced defender Nick Hurst, before Dorchester’s Tom Blair headed wide in search of a third goal against Tivvy this season.

The Yellows responded with a wayward Levi Landricombe shot after Jared Lewington had cushioned a Tom Bath cross into his path.

In a half devoid of clear-cut chances, Ollie Griggs was booked for a hard tackle on Bath before Rodriguez wasted two headed opportunities.

Firstly, the winger nodded an excellent Chris Clarke cross wide of goal before the former Weymouth man guided a pinpoint Blair delivery off target.

But Dorchester were nearly punished for their wastefulness when a brief moment of hesitation from their defence allowed Levi Landricombe through on goal, but the Tivvy forward’s opportunity was quickly snuffed out by the advancing Chris Weale as the sides entered the break goalless.

Landricombe was quickly presented with another chance straight from the restart, but his shot was deflected wide for a corner that the visitors cleared.

Tiverton, in contrast to the first half, had begun the second half on top and Landricombe again proved to be the hosts’ main source of danger, but the striker lofted a weak chip straight at Weale after being played through.

Fresh from scoring two goals against St Ives, Ash Pope was having a quiet game but he did register his first shot on goal after 60 minutes, forcing home goalkeeper Liam Armstrong into a smart save.

Two minutes later, the duo faced off again, with Armstrong once more coming out on top after thwarting on-loan Bournemouth striker Pope’s attempt.

However, on 65 minutes the hosts inexplicably failed to open the scoring when a glorious chance presented itself to Landricombe.

The forward closed down Weale sharply, tackling the keeper to rob him of the ball, but the Tivvy marksman failed to find the target with an open goal gaping, bending his shot wide of goal.

With chances flowing at the Dorchester end, Mike Landricombe then headed a Scott Rogers corner wide before Rodriguez and Pope made way for Dom Panesar-Dower and Alex Stafie.

Lowes, who had earlier skied a good chance over, did so again from close range in what proved to be the Magpies’ clearest opening of the game after Blair had headed down an accurate Kyle Egan cross.

Dorchester ended the match the stronger of the sides and created two routes to goal for Spanish winger Antonio Diaz in the space of a minute.

Diaz worked his way into a one-on-one situation but crashed into a Tivvy defender before seeing the chance drift away.

Seconds later, he was picked out in the area but, despite having sufficient space to make a telling strike on the ball, sent his effort wide of Armstrong’s woodwork.

Diaz’s double chance was the final action of note as both sides were made to settle for their first 0-0 draw of the season.

Tiverton: Armstrong, Hurst (Hall 8), Short, Price, Mammola, Gardner (J Rogers 78), Bath, M Landricombe, Lewington, L Landricombe, S Rogers. Sub not used: Curtis

Magpies: Weale, Egan, Martin, Rose, Clarke, Griggs, Rodriguez (Panesar-Dower 71), Lowes, Pope (Stafie 71), Diaz, Blair (Bastick 90+1). Sub not used: Carmichael

Referee: Richard Lawrence

Attendance: 176

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