This was not the sort of Vase drawing Ivybridge Town needed. Not with three straight defeats already on the board, not with bodies missing all over the pitch, and certainly not with Tavistock AFC arriving at Erme Valley with enough energy to make the afternoon look brutally one-sided once the game opened up. The final score was 4-1, and the uncomfortable truth is that it reflected the gap in sharpness, depth and ruthlessness.
For Ivybridge Town, the match underlined a simple reality: they are trying to compete while the squad is being stretched from one end to the other. Brad Gargett said the club were missing six players against St Blazey in midweek, and that the problem is not easing quickly enough. He was clear that the side are short of players at both ends of the pitch, which is exactly the kind of issue that turns a knockout tie into a survival exercise.
Ryan Smith strikes first, and the game tilts
The opening goal came in the 26th minute, and it arrived from a familiar face. Ryan Smith, a former Ivybridge player now with Tavistock AFC, opened the scoring with an angled shot. That always stings a little more in these situations. When a former player does that, it is not just a goal; it is a reminder of what the opposition no longer has.
Ivybridge were able to level through Alfie Slough in the 31st minute, and for a brief spell that looked like the kind of response that could drag the tie into a scrap. But Tavistock were not rattled for long. The decisive moments came after the break, when the visitors simply had more in reserve and more clarity in front of goal.
Second-half pressure exposed the difference
Ben Washam admitted it was frustrating, and his assessment felt accurate. He said there was a 20-minute spell in the second half when there was only one team in it, but that Ivybridge were lacking the killer instinct. He also pointed to opportunities to make it 2-2, only for them to go unconverted. That is the problem with struggling teams in knockout football: you can have a decent spell, but if you do not land the next blow, the match usually drifts away from you.
Tavistock found their second goal in the 68th minute, and the pattern after that was bleak for Ivybridge. The visitors added another in the 87th minute, and then struck again in the first of five added minutes. By then the contest was gone. What had started as a competitive cup tie had become a clear statement about who had more depth, more control and more energy left in the tank.
Injuries, shortages and a brutal schedule
Brad Gargett’s explanation was not an excuse so much as a warning. Dan Vile had already been out for six weeks with a broken wrist, and he was asked to play two games in the space of four days after returning early. Gargett said that in the 87th minute he began feeling something, and that Ivybridge were forced to put a central midfielder at centre half. That is not ideal in any match, let alone one where the opposition are still pushing.
The schedule does not get kinder either. After this defeat, Ivybridge were due to travel to Sidmouth Town on Tuesday evening, before a Devon County St Luke’s Cup tie against Okehampton Argyle at Erme Valley on Wednesday, Sept 23. That is a lot to ask of a squad already being patched together. The broader problem, as Gargett noted, is that players are coming back only to disappear again almost immediately. Two steps forward, three steps back.
There is also the awkward detail that in the last two games Ivybridge have been up against players who were with them last season but have since moved on for financial reasons. That is modern football in a nutshell: a club trying to fight through a shortage of numbers while former players turn up in the opposite shirt and make the damage feel even sharper.
So the Vase drawing ends here for Ivybridge Town, and there is no sugar-coating it. Tavistock AFC deserved their 4-1 win, Ryan Smith delivered the early damage, and the late collapse showed exactly why a thin squad can be punished so quickly in cup football. Ivybridge now need bodies, composure and a result somewhere, because the current version of this team is being asked to do too much with too little.
