Taunton Town beat rivals Tiverton Town in front of big crowd

Goals from Toby Holmes, Ross Stearn and Ollie Chamberlain sealed the impressive win which sees Taunton start 2022 in winning fashion.

After the match, manager Rob Dray said he was so happy to get the win over Tiverton and was impressed with the crowds.

"I am very pleased with that result, I think we controlled proceedings throughout and were very good value for the win, we deserved it.

"The crowd today was incredible, our fans are top drawer and to see so many of them today turn up and support was great."

The kick off time was originally delayed to allow for the influx of fans to get through the gate, however once the match started all the action came from the Peacocks.

Taunton looked good right from the off and it only took five minutes for them to take the lead; Ollie Chamberlain made a break down the right hand side and cut back to Toby Holmes who rifled it in the bottom corner.

After that both Jared Lewington and Jake Wannell went close but were denied by the post and then in the 21st minute it was 2-0.

This time Lewington took the ball to the byline before cutting it back and after it bounced through three players at the near post, Ross Stearn controlled and fired it in.

The rest of the first half played out much the same, with Taunton on top and Tiverton fighting for scraps of chances.

It did start to get heated with a few players picking up yellow cards with plenty of tough tackles but it ended 2-0 at the break.

Straight from the kick off almost, Tiverton made a break and won a penalty in the second half.

Louis Morrison stepped up and calmly slotted it into the bottom right corner of the net to pull one back for the visitors.

More fouls were committed and more yellow cards were shown after that moment and it looked like the game might see a red card.

However the referee did well to keep things under control which allowed Taunton to attack once more.

In the 58th minute Ross Stearn and Ollie Chamberlain played a brilliant one-two which saw Chamberlain through on goal; he dribbled with the ball for thirty yards before finishing in the corner.

At 3-1 Taunton had full control of the game once more and they stopped Tiverton from really creating many more chances.

Dan Sullivan made his return from injury for a ten minute spell at the end of the match which added to the good news to go with the result.

Up next, Taunton Town travel to Dorchester on Saturday January 8, kick off is 3pm.