Evo-Stik Southern League West
Barnstaple Town 0, Taunton Town 2

TAUNTON Town eased past struggling Barnstaple Town on Tuesday night to break the 18-year club record for league games unbeaten, while also moving 11 points clear of nearest challengers Salisbury at the summit.

Craig Veal's first-half strike and a Sam Haynes own goal after the break gave the Peacocks a 2-0 win, which means they have now gone 24 league matches without defeat.

Manager Leigh Robinson made only one change from the team which had drawn 2-2 at Salisbury on Saturday, with Veal coming in for Matt Buse, while Alpha Oumar Sow - a player the Peacocks have been looking at for a few weeks - was named on the bench.

Barnstaple are struggling down in 20th place in the division, and the opening exchanges at Mill Road were pretty subdued.

However, first blood went to the visitors, as Veal struck in the 17th minute, turning home Dan Sullivan's cross.

They continued to dominate the play, but only carried a slender 1-0 lead into half time.

Peacocks goalkeeper Lloyd Irish - making his 200th consecutive appearance - was forced into action for the first time just before the hour mark, but on 62 minutes the game was all but killed off when Ben Adelsbury rose to meet Ryan Brett's corner, and the ball deflected in off Haynes.

The 2-0 win brought up a 24th consecutive league match unbeaten for the Peacocks, a remarkable run of consistency which has seen them surpass the record set by Russell Musker's 1999/2000 Western League winners.

With an 11-point lead over Salisbury, and 20-point buffer over the teams outside the automatic promotion places, Taunton are looking good to achieve promotion with the title in tow, as there are only 10 games remaining this season.

Taunton Town: Lloyd Irish, Pierce Mitchell, Nuno Felix, Ben Adelsbury (Toby Down 90), Keith Emmerson, Shane White, Ollie Chamberlain, Ryan Brett, Matt Wright (c), Dan Sullivan (Matt Buse 77), Craig Veal.
Subs not used: Les Afful, Alpha Oumar Sow, Michael Meaker.
Attendance: 95