Mabin's magic in vain as Liskeard beaten by epic late Ivybridge comeback

IVYBRIDGE Town pulled off the almost impossible at Erme Valley on Tuesday night as they roared back from 3-0 and 3-1 down to score three times in the last eight minutes to secure a memorable victory over Liskeard Athletic.

Bailey Mabin’s hat-trick in 56 minutes against his former club appeared to have put the Blues into an unassailable lead.

But the sending off of Matt Andrew on the hour and an own goal in the 73rd minute saw Liskeard descend into a shambolic wreck as indiscipline and atrocious defending at set-pieces let the home side back in.

Substitute Charlie Menear’s 87th minute strike opened the door for an unlikely comeback, and after Connor McAuley equalised in the second minute of injury-time, another sub, Ethan Rowe, struck the winner three minutes later to spark wild celebrations from the home team.

For Liskeard, on top of Andrew’s sending off, skipper Josh McCabe was sin-binned in the seventh minute of time added on and Max Gilbert was shown a second yellow after the final whistle for dissent.

Liskeard must still be wondering how they managed to lose. They dominated the first half after Mabin gave them a 16th minute lead and were denied a second goal in the 35th minute with an excellent save from Kane Gregory to deny George Newton. From the resulting corner, an unmarked Scott Sanders headed inches wide.

The Blues started the second half strongly and when James Lorenz was tripped after 51 minutes, the resulting penalty was fired home by Mabin, who completed his hat-trick five minutes later.

Even when Liskeard were reduced to 10 men on the hour with the red card for Andrew after a late challenge on Chris Harvey, there was no hint of a comeback.

But the withdrawal of Mabin and Newton for Harry Probyn and George Marris in the 67th minute raised some eyebrows, and handed Ivybridge the momentum.

They pulled one back six minutes later when a corner to the near post caused panic in the six-yard box and a Liskeard player appeared to get the final touch into his own net.

The Blues were close to restoring their three-goal advantage shortly afterwards when Sanders got on the end of a free-kick to head towards goal, but keeper Gregory scooped the ball off the line.

Menear was introduced in the 80th minute and it took him only seven minutes to make his mark, firing a right foot shot into the net from 15 yards to reduce the arrears to 3-2.

Another set-piece – this time a free-kick – caused more panic in the Liskeard penalty area in the second minute of injury-time and McAuley took advantage by forcing the ball into the net from close-range to equalise.

The home side continued to pour forward and grabbed a sensational winner when a corner from the left whizzed across the six-yard box for Rowe to score at the far post.

Cue incredible celebrations from the home side while many Liskeard players held their head in their hands.

LISKEARD ATHLETIC: Ollie Chenoweth; Scott Sanders, Josh Robins (Ben Collins, 66), Harvey Mullis, Josh McCabe (capt), Matt Andrew, Max Gilbert, James Lorenz, George Newton (Harry Probyn, 67), Calum Merrin (Harry Jeffery, 52), Bailey Mabin (George Marris, 67; Kai Gilbert, 88).

Referee: Joseph Drew.

Attendance: 153.

Liskeard Athletic man-of-the-match: Bailey Mabin.