TAUNTON Town's head of football Rob Dray is looking for a reaction from his players as the Peacocks look to keep hold of top spot tomorrow - and maintain their unbeaten record at home in the league this season.

A 1-0 defeat at Harrow Borough last weekend meant Taunton's lead at the Evo-Stik Southern League Premier Division South summit was eroded to a point.

However, the Peacocks have the chance to bounce back against 12th-placed Hartley Wintney at the Viridor Stadium tomorrow (ko 3pm).

Dray told the County Gazette: “To stay at the top you have to put your big boy pants on and get on with it.

“We’re good at that [bouncing back from a disappointing result], and we have a fantastic group of players here.

“You measure how you’ve done over the course of the season, and back in August most people would have said we would be in the play-offs or the top half.

“No-one would have put us top.

“We’re having a great season, and it’s been a big learning curve for us.”

Taunton are out for revenge after losing 3-1 at Hartley in December, although Dray is not reading too much into that result.

“The conditions made it a bit of a lottery, and we made more personal errors,” he said.

“It won’t be easy, but we’ve had a free week to regroup and talk about things we could do better.”

Defender Keith Emmerson will miss tomorrow's game due to a family funeral, but the Peacocks have confirmed the arrival of midfielder Lucas Tomlinson on loan from Bristol Rovers' Under-18 squad.

Taunton then host Welton Rovers in the quarter-finals of the Somerset Premier Cup on Wednesday night (ko 7.45pm).

Welton are currently 10th in the First Division of the Western League, and knocked out Bath City on penalties to reach the last eight of the cup.

Dray added: “Once you reach the quarter-finals, you want to do as much as you can, to do well in the competition.

“It’s a chance for us to look at a few of the BTC [Bridgwater & Taunton College] lads, and an opportunity for some of our own squad members to play.”