Yellows fall flat on 'ice rink pitch' at Chippenham

TIVERTON Town boss Martyn Rogers said his side's clash at Chippenham Town should never have started because the pitch was 'like an ice skating rink'.

The manager branded the Hardenhuish Park playing surface dangerous after watching his Yellows fall to a narrow 1-0 defeat in Wiltshire.

The loss was a disappointing blow to Tivvy's play-off aspirations, but Rogers had other concerns on his mind following the final whistle.

He said: "I didn't think the game should have started. I walked over it and it was bordering on dangerous in places.

"That's not sour grapes because I said that before the game. There were several patches that were quite solid.

"Paul Jarvis had to come off because he slipped and tweaked his hamstring. It was really hard in places, like an ice skating rink."

The poor conditions made for a game severely lacking in quality, as neither side was able to get the ball down and pass it.

However, Tivvy made most of the early running and Jarvis saw an effort from 20 yards fly inches wide of the far post on nine minutes, before Phil Walsh sent Mike Booth through on goal, only for Chippenham keeper Chris Snoddy to race off his line and produce a fine save at the midfielder's feet.

Chippenham's Sam Allison was allowed a sight of goal on 31 minutes and shot tamely at Steve Book, but thereafter the two sides abandoned any notion of creating opportunities and merely concentrated on digging in to win the midfield battle.

The second half started in much the same vein as the first finished, so it was no surprise when the deadlock was broken from a scrappy set-piece.

Phil Walsh was first to Kye Holly's near post corner but only succeeded in heading it up, rather than out, allowing Alex Kite to win the second ball and nod past Book from close range.

Tivvy tried to respond through Jarvis' free-kick from 20 yards, but the winger only succeeded in firing over the bar and injuring himself in the process.

That opened the door for striker Lewis Powell, signed from Clevedon Town on New Year's Eve, to make his Yellows debut as a substitute for the stricken Jarvis.

Rogers altered his formation to give the visitors more options going forward, changing from a 5-3-2 to a 4-3-3.

But the Yellows struggled to come to terms with playing as a flat back four and David Pratt, proud owner of the world record for the fastest sending off, twice went close.

On 70 minutes the hitman found himself in space but fired over the bar, before drawing an excellent save out of Book two minutes later when Allison had put him through.

Scott Lye went close on 76 minutes, but again Book was equal to it.

Tivvy showed they were still in the contest and Walsh could have done better when he hit a left foot shot over the bar with 10 minutes remaining.

On the whole, Chippenham defended well and were able to repel whatever the Yellows threw at them to sentence Rogers' men to a losing start to 2009.

Chippenham: Snoddy, Adams, Halliday, Kite, Casey, Williams, Lye Holly, Pratt, Allison, Gullick. Subs: Harvey, Bryan, Gardner, Seavill, Sercombe

Tiverton: Book, Faux, Jarvis (Powell, 65), Villis, Rudge, Gardner, Booth, Hopkinson, Walsh, Pugh, Wyatt. Subs: Saunders, Knighton, Gould, Powell, O'Brien

Booked: Rudge (foul, 24)

Attendance: 563

Referee: John Flynn

Match stats (Chippenham first): Shots on target: 4-4; shots off target: 8-4; free-kicks conceded 15-14; corners 4-4; offsides 0-2