The kick off for this New Year derby game between Taunton Town and Tiverton Town was delayed for fifteen minutes due to the amount of fans trying to get into the ground. When the game finally got underway it was Tivvy who kicked off and had the first effort on goal after only two minutes when a low shot from Dan Hayfield went just wide of the Taunton goal. Tiverton were having the best of the opening couple of minutes and a Gary Warren volley was well saved by Will Buse in the Taunton goal and his clearance saw the home side break quickly and a good move was well finished off by Toby Holmes to put Taunton 1- 0 in front.
Tiverton went looking for the equalising goal but it was Taunton who nearly got a second but for a fingertip save from Lewis Williams to put the ball out for a corner which Tivvy cleared with ease. But on twenty minutes Taunton got their second goal of the game when a low cross into
the Tivvy box found Ross Stearn unmarked who had a simple tap in to make it 2-0.
The home side very nearly got another just a minute later when a corner was not dealt with by Williams in the Tivvy goal the ball hit the bar and bounced down and was cleared by the Tivvy defence. Tivvy tried to break down the Taunton defence but without any joy. Taunton number six Jake Wannell was booked for a foul. The resulting freekick was floated into the box and was met by the head of Gary Warren who headed the ball back across the goal for Jordan Lam to fire the ball into the Net but by this time the Linesman had already flagged for offside and the goal
was disallowed. The last action of the first half saw Tivvy defender Alfie Pond receive a yellow card for a late challenge.
Taunton got the second half underway but within a minute of the re start and Tivvy were awarded a penalty when Jordan Lam was brought down in the box. Up stepped Louis Morison who smashed the ball home fron the penalty spot to get Tiverton right back in the game at 2-1. Tivvy went looking for their second goal and a Kyle Egan cross was met by Dan Hayfield but his shot was well saved by Buse in the Taunton goal. Tivvy were looking much better in the second half and for the first time in the game Taunton looked worried. A couple of bookings followed with Taunton number eleven Joe Guest and Tiverton number nine Jordan Lam both getting yellow cards for two seperate incidents.
On fifty eight minutes a Tivvy pass across the middle of the pitch was cut out by the Taunton midfield and they broke away and a great finish into the far corner by Ollie Chamberlain made it 3-1 to the home side. Tiverton made three changes bringing on Nelson Iseguan , Matt Wright and Owen Howe. Players going off were Louis Morison , Olaf Koszela and Craig Woodman.. Tivvy had a couple of chances the best of them being a Hayfield volley which was brilliantly saved by the Taunton keeper. The Taunton defence held strong and the game ended with a 3-1 victory for the home side