Taunton Town return to league action on Saturday afternoon, following two heavyweight bouts against Somerset rivals Weston super Mare in the Emirates FA Cup, which ended in replay defeat at The Optima Stadium. The Peacocks will dust themselves down and take the positives into what promises to be a tough test for Richard Luffman’s men as they head to fourth placed Farnham Town.
Saturday’s hosts have begun their debut season at Step 3 in the same vein that brought them back to back promotions, recording three wins and four draws to remain unbeaten, a record The Peacocks will be determined to end. Farnham’s opener saw them edge a 1-0 win at home to Hungerford in front of a healthy 848, before their next outing at The Memorial Ground drew a bumper crowd of 2,134, even featuring a mascot appearance from Peter Crouch as part of a forfeit. Mat Mackenzie leads their scoring charts with four goals, closely followed by Owen Dean on three.
For The Peacocks, bowing out of the Emirates FA Cup was undoubtedly a disappointment, but there were plenty of positives to take from spells across both ties. Arguably, there will be few tougher opponents than Weston this season. New signing Joe Hatch from Plymouth Argyle has added to the attacking options, and despite the absences of Ryan Lane and Niall Thompson, the defensive unit led by Nick Grimes and supported by Frankie Phillips has been a real plus point in the campaign so far.
Richard Luffman’s Thoughts:
“We go into the game against Farnham knowing that we have done well against one of the NLS best sides over two games. It’s given us lots of confidence that we are in a good spot to kick on into our league campaign. Farnham are a good side, who will feel they can get another promotion under their belt so we’ll have to be at our best.
It’s a relentless schedule but we’re keen to keep putting points on the board as we have done in all but one game this season. We have lots of injury concerns but the squad is a big one, so it’ll give others an opportunity to step up.”
Luffers showing his support for The Peacock Army. Photo by Debbie Gould.
Farnham Tickets:
Tickets for our match away to Farnham Town can be purchased online or at the turnstiles.
We will provide live updates across our social media channels throughout each game, along with post match interviews. You can also listen live to Rich Wilcox-Smith and Jon Reed’s excellent match commentary from 10 minutes before kick off: Peacocks Radio.
