Loddiswell Reserves 2 Torbay Christians 1
Saturday 30th January 2010 - SDL Division 4

With their controversial cup exit at the hands of Torbay Christians seven days earlier still very fresh in the their minds, Loddiswell Reserves took to the field determined to come away with all three points.

A re-shuffle of the team saw Mark Stace coming in for the injured Teague in goal, whilst Paul Tucker came in to midfield for Dan Stathers who moved to left back in place of the injured Dan Hardy. The change seemed to give the hosts midfield of Tim Stathers and Tucker a little more time on the ball, which in turn found the wide men being brought into the game more than the previous week. In particular Rob Tapper on the right was having some joy, resulting in a string of corners that despite finding Loddiswell players, some how failed to open up the scoring. Andy Edmonds meanwhile was causing problems down the left flank, and from one such attack the post was struck, but again no goal.

During this spell of pressure Christians were using the counter attack to good effect, as their pacey front-runners got in behind the back four of Rowe, George, Elliott and Stathers, on a number of occasions. However, poor finishing and a great save by Stace kept them out.

This remained the pattern of play for most of the first half and with ten minutes to go, the Christians again got in behind the back four, this time a clash of legs with the covering Elliott saw the striker go down and the referee award a penalty. The spot kick was converted and the Christians went in at half time 1-0 up.

Despite the scoreline and the fact that several good chances had gone begging, Lodds were still in a positive mood and from the first whisitle of the second half applied the pressure on the Christians back four. With the returning Adam Sherring holding the ball up for Chris Guard to make the runs, chance after chance was created but again not taken. Torbay were always dangerous on the break but these breaks were becoming few and far between.

Eventually the pressure told, and from a Paul Tucker corner Andy Edmonds leapt highest to head home the equaliser. Not content with just a point Lodds kept on attacking and from yet another corner Dan Stathers challenged bravely to push home the much-deserved second goal.

James Hillard, returning from injury, replaced Paul Tucker whose injury curse had once again struck, and Hillard's eagerness to regain match fitness gave the Loddiswell midfield a fresh impetus. With the Torbay counter attack still a threat Lodds looked for a third to kill the game off, but try as they may the chances would not go in. With only minutes remaining Torbay broke through the middle, one on one with Stace in the Loddiswell goal, the visiting player knocked the ball goal bound, and but for a last ditch lunge to clear the ball off the line by Sam Elliott, an equaliser would have been scored.

The 2-1 victory was no more than Loddiswell deserved, on another day it could well have been double figures. But from the front to the back the whole team fought as one to take home the points and to banish the memories of the previous weeks injustice.