IVYBRIDGE recovered from conceding an early goal to record an emphatic victory over league leaders Torpoint in an incident-packed cup tie at Erme Valley on Wednesday night.

Defender Freddie Chapman gave Torpoint a fifth minute lead but Kai Burrell equalised in the 21st minute and the Ivies scored three times in the second half.

Central defender Joe Cook put the home side ahead for the first time two minutes after the break, Burrell then converted a 53rd minute penalty to make it 3-1 and substitute Charlie Menear completed the scoring three minutes from time.

Torpoint, who had been unbeaten in eight games, had a night to forget after a good start which saw them go ahead when a quickly-taken free-kick from Tom payne found Curtis Damerell who squared for Chapman to do the rest.

The visitors later Elliott Crawford to the sin-bin after he protested about the penalty decision, and then had top-scorer Curtis Damerell sent off 14 minutes from time.

An injury to Cameron Patterson forced Ivybridge to make a substitution before half-time with Josh Johnson taking over on the right wing in the 40th minute.

A lively start to the second half saw Ivybridge take the lead when Cook scored with a powerful header following Josh Pope’s left-wing corner.

Then Johnson made a dangerous run into the Torpoint goalmouth, resulting in Callum O’Brien being penalised for handball and Burrell scored his seventh goal of the season when he converted the spot-kick in the 53rd minute.

After Damerell’s red card a strong finish by Ivybridge saw them go close to increasing their lead, including having another penalty appeal turned down, before Menear wrapped up victory after more good work by the impressive Kaycee Ogwu.

Ivybridge joint managers Ben Washam and Brad Gargett praised the performance of their players. Washam said: “We had a depleted squad with a lot of injuries. All the lads have done the club proud. They never stopped running and I could not be more delighted.”

Gargett added: “We do our homework, and we knew how Torpoint were going to set up. I thought the gameplan, combined with the boys running and their belief to listen to what we want them to do and put it into the plan, is what won us the game.”

Washam added: “To beat them 4-1 just shows that we are more than capable of competing with the best on our day. It is important that we continue with performances like that. I don’t think any team in the league is going to enjoy playing against us now.”

Gargett said: “We will get better and better as the season progresses. If we concentrate on the performances, the results will look after themselves.”

Torpoint boss Dean Cardew said: “It turned into a very disappointing night after a really good opening 20 minutes.

“I thought we started the game excellently, really taking it to them and they were on the ropes for the opening 20 minutes. We then gifted them an equaliser and didn’t really recover from that.

“The game just turned very messy which suited Ivybridge’s style better than ours, and even after a good chat at half-time, we just couldn’t find our rhythm again.

“It’s a game that we need to learn from and bounce back in a positive manner.”

IVYBRIDGE TOWN: Freddie Harvey-Larmar, James Forrest (Hayden Baugh, 90+2), Jadore Lawson, Owen Howard (Sam Cox, 89), Joe Cook, Sam Hillson, Kai Burrell (Charlie Menear, 78), Josh Pope (Jake Smelt, 82), Cam Patterson (Josh Johnson, 43), Ryan Smith, Kaycee Ogwu.

TORPOINT ATHLETIC: Ryan Rickard; Dave Barker, Fred Chapman, Tom Payne, Callum O’Brien, Elliott Crawford (capt), Sam Pearson, Owen Haslam, Curtis Damerell, Joe Rapson, Darren Hicks. Subs: James Rowe, Laurence Murray, Kieran Edworthy, Gary Hird, Callum Martindale.