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Ivel travelled to Martock for this, the first derby match of the season. As has become the pattern lately Ivel took a totally differant side, due to availabilities. Veteran Derek Smith started at 9, Troy Fowler played for the first time returning from injury as did Callum Langford-Snape. Brian Charlton played his first game of the season, along with Ross Gibson, Jimmy Dival and Jason Tipler.
Ivel started poorly and were behind after 10 minutes, after being dragged in to a forward battle. Martock moved the ball wide and scored to the right of the posts. Conversion missed.
This, as usual, woke Ivel up and for the next 20 minutes they played some very good rugby. Quick ball was being moved wide and chances were being created. James Cook, playing at 13, was making some good breaks, but unfortunately the final passes were not going to hand, or were being knocked forward. From a scrum on the far side the ball got to Roger Malisweski who was stopped short. However Andrew Cook was in close support to touch down. The conversion was missed. Ivel were now playing well, the ball was moving well, and from another good move Emlyn Kuhn touched down in the far corner. Again the conversion missed.
Now was the time to push the advantage home and after another flowing move Andrew Cook scored again. Kuhn scored the conversion.

Half-Time
Martock 5
Ivel 2XV 17

With Jason Tipler on for James Cook, and Jimmy Dival on for Andrew Cook. Ivel should have carried on pushing their advantage, but this was not to be. Time after time poor handling stopped Ivel scoring more points. They were unlucky to drop the ball just 2 metres out. Louis Jones then got injured, meaning Coach Martin Cole had to come on and play at 9.
Martock then made the game very interesting when a kick through was collected by their very pacey full back who scored under the posts. The concersion was missed. Ivel kept the pressure on right to the end, but could not breach the opposition line.

Coach Martin Cole said: “A lot of basic errors could have cost us the game, but we could have also won by a bigger margin. We had a mixture of youth and experience today and in passages of play it showed good link-up despite the mixture of experiences. We must learn to play for 80 minutes and complete passages of play by scoring points. A lot to work needs to be done before Saturday’s game. But 2 points gained are an ideal incentive.”