Taunton Town’s first of two matches this week began with a victory as The Peacocks defeated Tavistock 2 to 0 at the Cygnet Health Care Stadium thanks to goals from Alfie Moulden and Alens Poskus.
There was a significant change in goal before Tuesday night’s win as Frankie Phillips joined the club on a season long loan from Exeter City. Meanwhile, James Walker, who had featured in every pre season friendly so far, has signed a contract with The Peacocks and is finalising a loan move himself to further accelerate his development. Speaking candidly in his post match interview, Manager Richard Luffman indicated that the squad will need to be thinned out, and that Tuesday’s match against the Lambs presented an opportunity to rotate the squad heavily and have a final look at different options before two strong tests coming up in the next seven days against Stoke City and Chippenham Town.
Chris Zebroski and Kane Simpson led the line, and it was Zebroski who nearly opened the scoring when his header was cleared off the line at the back post. Just moments later, Zebroski forced visiting keeper Dan Holman into action again when the young keeper’s palms were stung by another effort on target.
On 18 minutes, there was nearly a horror moment for the away side as a lofted back pass was caught by the wind and wrong footed Holman, who then recovered just in time to save his blushes as The Peacocks pressed for an opener.
On 24 minutes, Bailey Croome was given too much time and space on the right hand side. The wide man cut onto his favoured left foot before finding Jacob Towns, who then struck over from the edge of the Lambs box.
Thirty minutes in, The Peacocks had their heads in their hands as Simpson’s close range finish seemed destined for the back of the net. However, the heroics of Holman paid off as the visiting keeper threw himself at the shot to save at point blank range.
One of the most exciting developments this summer has been the formation of the Taunton Town Player Pathway, where children from under five can progress through to the first team. Last night saw eight chosen players from the title winning under eighteens side feature in the second half: Morgan, Poskus, Gumbo, Burr in goal, Yards, Griffin, and Murphy.
Just sixty seconds after the restart, Alfie Moulden applied the finishing touch to a well worked move that saw The Peacocks take the lead. Bursting forward at pace, Alfie played a neat one two with Simpson before slotting past Holman to score.
More pressure followed as Finn Rooke saw a close range finish cleared off the line, but only as far as Alens Poskus, who hammered the rebound high over the bar inside the six yard area.
In the dying moments, the headlines belonged to the club’s Under-18s, who capped off an excellent move with a well-taken finish to double the lead and secure a fourth pre-season win for the Peacocks. Murphy started the move before an explosive burst of pace from Dan Griffin pushed the Peacocks into a great position. Griffin cut the ball back to Alens Poskus, who hammered it past Holman in the 91st minute.
The Peacocks remain at home this weekend as Stoke City visit the Cygnet Health Care Stadium, and we look forward to seeing the claret and blue army in attendance.