CREDITON 5 - ALPHINGTON 5

CREDITON welcomed Alphington to Lords Meadow on a cold Saturday afternoon (January 21) with the frost thawing just in time for kick off.

Trenaman again shuffled his pack following the previous Saturday’s defeat away at Teignmouth. Starting with a 3-5-2 there was a new look back three, with Goss and Skinner coming in alongside the gaffer himself.

Bilcock came in for Carpenter in midfield and Groom was pushed up front alongside Blake.

The game started at a frantic pace with Crediton looking at sixes and sevens across the back line, it was no surprise when Alpha’s took the lead inside 10 minutes, a floated ball from the left evaded Lee and Skinner who were appealing for the offside, but the flag stayed down and Taylor controlled the ball and finished with ease.

One soon became two as another mix up in defence allowed Moody far too much space and he slotted past Tonkin to extend the lead.

Crediton were on the ropes and decided to revert to a back four, Skinner moving over to LB, Khoo dropping deeper to RB and Morish pushing forward to make a front three. The change seemed to galvanise the home side and they began to get themselves into the game.

The next goal was a belter and got Crediton on the scoreboard, a long ball from Goss was flicked on by Groom and from 20 yards Blake fired home a first time half volley, which rocketed into the top corner.

Crediton continued to dominate and Groom missed a glorious chance to make it 2-2 following a quick break from Lee and Blake. The scoreline remained the same until the break.

The second half was one with more action than a “Die Hard” movie. Crediton’s dominance continued and it wasn’t long before they were back on terms.

This time it was Alphas defence that failed to clear their lines, Groom and Blake were causing all sorts of problems and after a couple of blocked attempts the ball fell to Groom wide on the left-hand side of the box. He cut inside and bent a superb effort into the far corner, beyond the despairing dive of the ‘keeper.

The next blows came from the away side, who scored a quick-fire double on the hour to pull 4-2 ahead and it looked like game over.

Taylor doubled his tally for the day and then Moody followed suit after a horrible clearance from Tonkin left him with an open goal.

However, Crediton wouldn’t lie down. Stone replaced Morish and McCann came on for Trenaman and the changes seemed to have a positive effect.

Bilcock and Lee were dominating the midfield battle and when Groom shot from distance, his effort should have been comfortable for the Alpha’s ‘keeper, but somehow he managed to dive over the ball and Crediton were handed a lifeline!

Moments later there was confusion in the Alpha’s defensive ranks and two players tried to clear the ball at the same time, the ball broke to Blake who fired home to bring the scores level at 4-4!

Crediton were in the ascendancy and pressed for a winner, with 10 minutes to go Blake combined again with Groom and the latter headed home to complete the dramatic comeback and put Crediton into a 5-4 lead.

Alpha’s looked dead on their feet but the contest wasn’t finished there.

With 30 seconds to go the game looked over, as Tonkin had the ball at his feet for a goal kick. However, his clearance went straight down the middle of the pitch and the ball was lofted back over the top of the Crediton defence. Tonkin came rushing out but Taylor got there first, lobbing the ball over him to complete his hat-trick and earn an unlikely point for the visitors. A dramatic end to a hectic end-to-end thriller.

In the end a draw was probably a fair result on the basis of two teams with terrible defensive performances. Both sides will feel like they could and should have walked away with three points, with Alpha’s being pegged back from a two-goal advantage twice, and Crediton conceding so late in the day.

A great game for the neutrals nonetheless! Crediton definitely need to improve if they want to stay in the hunt for promotion.

Dave Lee