Tavistock AFC v Yate Town
Saturday 10th August- Kick-off 3.00pm
Yate Town travel to Tavistock AFC in West Devon for their first Southern League Division One South game of the season on Saturday, having had their final game of last season there just 15 weeks before, when the teams drew 1-1, with James Taylor’s late goal (pictured below) cancelling out a goal from Tavistock’s leading goal scorer, Liam Pyrnn, just before the hour mark.
Yate Town started their season with an FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round win 2-0 at home to Holyport at the South West Interiors Stadium, with Marlon Jackson scoring on his debut with another goal added by Lucas Tomlinson shortly afterwards, with both goals scored in the first half.
Manager, Darren Mullings will be hoping that new signing, Ross Stearn will be fit for this game but another new signing, midfielder Lloyd James, is suspended. Wayne Nderenami picked up a knock against Holyport and will hope to recover in time. Mullings will be pleased to add Oli Jenkins to the squad, the midfielder making an immediate return to the club having signed for National League South Weston-super-Mare recently, and is now back on loan until the end of the year. Also in the squad will be new signing Ross Staley, who was part of Frome Town’s promotion winning team last season and Will Larvin who returns to the club after being on a month’s loan last autumn from Bristol Rovers but he is unavailable at Tavistock.
Previous meetings
The teams met for the first-time last season and played each other three times with honours even with one win, one draw and one defeat each. The teams met in September in the FA Trophy when Tavistock scored two late goals through Owen Pritchard and Jacob Bowker to go into to the next round. In the League games the Bluebells won 5-1 at the South West Interiors Stadium on a Tuesday evening in January with goals from Oli Jenkins, Nick McCootie 2, James Taylor and Calum English-Brown, with a late consolation goal by Alex Battle for the visitors with, as previously stated, the game at Tavistock ending in a 1-1 draw in April.
Above: Wayne Nderemani shoots just wide during the first half at Tavistock in April.
He played for both clubs: Joe O’Loughlin played for Yate Town in the early part of last season, scoring twice, before going travelling and then relocation in Devon where he spent part of last spring playing for Tavistock.
Our opponents
This is the Devon club’s third season at this level, having won promotion from the Westen League at the end of season 2021/22 and in their first season at this level (2022/23) saw them just missing out on a play-off spot finishing in 6th place and last season the Lambs finished in 11th place. Tavistock have played a large number of friendlies to prepare for this season, most of them being at home and include a recent 1-2 loss to Callington and a 2-1 win against Liskeard. They also beat Barnstaple 3-0 and Oakhampton Aryle 7-3 but lost the big one 0-4 at home to Torquay United but before that defeated Plymouth Parkway 4-1.
Last Saturday they played Ilfracombe away in the FA Cup in their first competitive game of the season winning 2-0 in front of just 97 fans with Liam Prynn and skipper Harrison scoring their goals. They play Ivybridge away in the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup next Saturday.
Getting there
Tavistock play at Langsford Park which is situated in the heart of Tavistock, on the A386. There is free parking, including disabled bays, and wheel chair access into the ground. The postcode for your Sat Nav is PL19 8JR. Take the signs for Tavistock College and Sports Centre, go past the College and the ground entrance is a further 100 meters on your left-hand side. The 130-mile journey from Yate should take about two and a half hours.
'Make a day out of it! Tavistock is a thriving, situated on the River Tavy, from which it derives its name. It is a beautifully friendly market town that is worthy of any visitor. An ancient stannary town and home of the cream tea, Tavistock is the only town in Devon to hold world heritage status. The vibrancy and uniqueness of Tavistock is undeniable with a range of beautiful local independent shops which are a far cry from today's typical high street. Not to be overlooked is the famous pannier market or the award-winning farmers’ market. It is truly a shoppers’ paradise.
Next up Yate Town play their first Southern League home game of the season on Tuesday 13th August when BISHOPS CLEEVE are the visitors to the South West Interiors Stadium, with a 7.45pm kick-off.