Match Preview
Exmouth Town v Yate Town
Southern League Division One South
Saturday 14th September- Kick-off 3.00pm
Yate Town travel to Exmouth Town the two teams having only played each other 19 days earlier on August Bank Holiday Monday at the South West Interiors Stadium when the Bluebells won 1-0 in a closely fought game with Marlon Jackson scoring the only goal in the second half.
This fixture was originally scheduled for New Years Day but with both clubs now out of this season’s FA Cup and with a blank Saturday, they agreed to this re-scheduled this fixture.
Yate Town got back to winning ways last Saturday with a fine FA Trophy win at Bemerton and after 2 Cup games it’s back to league action again before the Bluebells play Bideford in the Second Qualifying Round of the FA Trophy on 21st September at home.
Form Guide
This season has seen Exmouth in fine form carrying on from the latter stages of last season. They have played 4 League games so far this season and sit in 7th position with 2 wins, one draw and on defeat, having accumulated 7 points so far.
They started their League campaign with a 3-0 home win against Thatcham followed by a 2-0 win at Bideford and then drew 3-3 at Melksham, with both sides keeping their unbeaten record intact in the League. In an eventful game, Louis Morison, the former Exeter City Academy player, scored two of their goals, with the other from Nelson Isguean after Exmouth had been 1-3 down with 15 minutes to go, with Melksham being reduced to nine men following having two players being sent off. Their last League game was against the Bluebells.
Last Saturday Exmouth beat Kidlington 4-1 at home in the First Qualifying Round of the FA Trophy having lost 1-2 to the same opposition in last season’s FA Trophy. Ben Griffith 2 and Tom Bath 2, one of which was a penalty, were the Exmouth goal scorers.
Their team last Saturday was: Phillips, Llewellyn (Cann, 73), M.Landricombe, Morison, Belsten, Knowles, Shipton, Denny, McCue (Iseguan, 65), Griffith (High, 73), Bath (L.Landricombe, 73).
Unused sub: Rowe.
In the FA Cup, having beaten Street 1-0 with a Tom Bath goal in the Extra Preliminary Round, they hosted Brixham in the Preliminary Round on 17th August and were beating Brixham 3-0 when Jack Thorne, who had scored twice, was badly injured and the game was eventually abandoned in the second half. The following Wednesday (21st August) the game was replayed and it was Brixham who surprisingly won 2-0 to inflict Exmouth’s first defeat of the season.
Season 2022/23 saw Exmouth finish in 14th place in their inaugural season in the Southern League with 46 points from 38 games and last season, after being bottom of the league for long periods their form improved dramatically for them to finally finish in 18th position out of 19 clubs and thus avoiding relegation with only one team going down.
Previous meetings:
Last season was the first time that the clubs have met each other in the Southern League, Exmouth Town having been promoted from the Western League in 2022. The first game saw Yate Town win 4-1 for their “Pay What You Want” fixture watched by a crowd of 464, with the game being in doubt with a pitch inspection at 9.30am following heavy rain. It was a game of spectacular goals with Joe Hall
putting the Bluebells into an early lead before stunning strikes from Dylan Lewis and Brendon Opeteri (his only goal for the club) put Yate in front in the first half hour before Ben Steer joined in the act with a tremendous shot for Exmouth to make it 3-1. Ryan Hillier added a fourth in the second half. The game at Exmouth in January saw an away win with Joe Guest and Nick McCootie scoring in the first half and Levi Landricombe scoring a stoppage time goal for Exmouth.
And of course, Yate Town defeated Exmouth Town 1-0 this past August Bank Holiday at the end of last month.
Action from the Bank holiday game
The clubs had met before, in the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup in season 2019/20, and after a 2-2 draw at Lodge Road with Ollie Mehew scoring twice it was the Devon side who were victorious in the replay winning 2-0.
Getting there:
The address of their ground is 19 Southern Road, Exmouth EX8 3EE and the 93-mile journey should take just under 2 hours from Yate.
Next up
Yate Town go back to the FA Trophy on Saturday 21st September when Bideford are the visitors to the South West Interiors Stadium and this is followed by another home game on Tuesday 24th September when Larkhall Athletic are the visitors with a 7.45pm kick-off.