FA Cup preliminary round

Tavistock AFC 1

Taunton Town 2

THE Lambs went so close to causing a major upset in this tie against Southern League side Taunton Town. They pushed their opponents to the very limit and with a stroke of luck, would have come out with a victory.

The first quarter was very even, with Taunton playing five across the middle of the park, to safeguard conceding an early goal. Tavistock were improving as the game progressed with Dave Hallett commanding the centre of the park. Both Paul Smith and Dan Pethick had good efforts on goal, but were dealt with by the Taunton keeper.

The visitors were dangerous in the break and went close on a couple of occasions, but Andy Meed was on hand to deal with the danger.

In the 28th minute the Lambs should have taken the lead when Pethick and Sullivan combine well, with the later providing an excellent cross which should have been turned into the net but the keeper parried it away to safety.

This entertaining encounter was somewhat spoilt when in the 38th minute Taunton Town's James Clough suffered a broken leg in a 50/50 challenge.

After a lengthy delay due to this injury, the game went under way, and it was Chris Head who almost put the Lambs ahead, he out paced the Taunton defence, only to see his fierce shot well saved by keeper Astley. Blatchford then saw his free kick saved, whilst everyone thought the home team should have had a penalty when Martyn Sullivan appeared to be brought down in the penalty area. The first half remained goalless.

The second period saw the Lambs continued to press and Astley again saved from Chris Head. With the home team enjoying most of the play, the visitors broke and took the lead in the 65th minute. The home defence only had themselves to blame as they missed two chances to clear their lines and get the ball out of danger, before the ball fell kindly to Ross McNab who steered his shot past Andy Meeds from six yards.

Tavistock continued to push forward and they fully deserved to get an equaliser in the 73rd minute, when Jamie Ahearn rose magnificently, to meet Chris Head's corner kick and power his near post header into the roof of the net. Once again it looked as if the Lambs were going to on and win the game as they pressed forward in numbers.

Then the unthinkable happened, with the Lambs on the attack with Sullivan inside the box about to shoot, he lost possession and the counter attack caught the home defence napping.

A long punt down through the middle, found Rodney Marsh on his own, who lifted the ball over the advancing Meeds into the net. The Lambs continued to press forward and really deserved an equaliser but unfortunately it was not to be.

The home side can be proud of their performance and they were more than equal to their Southern League opponents, however they must learn from this game that concentration at the back is essential as it was two slip ups that cost us the game.