Where There's a Willand...
- Darren Holmes
- Jul 21, 2024
- 2 min read
Pre-season Friendly . Tuesday, July 23
Tiverton Town v Willand Rovers
Ian Moorcroft Stadium . 7.30pm
ALTHOUGH Tiverton and Willand have met on a number occasions in recent seasons, mainly in the St Luke's Devon Bowl, more than a decade has passed since the Yellows have hosted their local rivals.
The last game played between the two sides at Ladysmead was in 2013, when Josh Concanen and Nick Rudge were Tivvy's scorers in a 2-1 victory (source Tivvy Archive).
A year later, Owen Howe was amongst the goals for Tivvy on away turf in another Yellows success and,10 years on, Willand's captain is scheduled to face his old club on Tuesday evening.
With three players who were a big part of our survival campaign last term - former captain Jamie Richards, the gifted River Allen, and midfield schemer Carlo Garside - moving to the Stan Robinson Stadium in the close season, there will perhaps be more of an edge to this game than a routine friendly. Ex-Exeter City legend and Tiverton favourite Craig Woodman has also featured in pre-season for Willand.
Managing affairs for the Silver Street side will be David Steele, another to have played for the Yellows and son of the legendary Hedley Steele, a fine player and hugely popular figure in Tiverton’s glory days. He will be joined by Russell Gee, also a former Yellow.
Leigh Robinson’s men are progressing nicely as they contemplate their fifth warm-up game for the 2024-25 campaign. This game has come round quickly for them following Saturday’s positive performance against National South Weston-super-Mare.
Building up game time and fitness is more important than the outcome in pre-season but a good team spirit is often the result of momentum and steady improvement can do that.
Exciting new signings, such as the recently arrived Tor Swann, and the retention of key players have brought a feelgood factor to the Ian Moorcroft Stadium. The managerial team of Leigh and Ben Gerring has put together a set of testing fixtures as they prepare for the new term in Southern League Premier South, with Truro, Yate and Torquay still to come.
Willand have so far lost narrowly to Western League Brixham on the road and then suffered a 4-1 home reverse to National South Truro before convincingly beating Crediton 4-0 and then losing to a last-gasp winner by Taunton, who we play in the upcoming league campaign, at Silver Street on Friday.
This indicates a very competitive evening on Tuesday. Highly-rated striker Harvey Dorothy, who has signed from Barnstaple, and mainstays and talented Willand players Ryan Guppy, Nathan Byrne and Ashton Hewitt will be other players to watch.
# COYY
Tickets for the game against Willand can be purchased online here.
