Swindon Supermarine 2-1 Taunton Town

A LAST-GASP winner consigned Taunton Town to defeat in their final pre-season friendly away at Swindon Supermarine last night (Friday).

Taunton had several key players missing – including goalkeepers Dan Lavercombe and Lloyd Irish and captain Nick Grimes – but manager Rob Dray was pleased with his side's performance against the Southern League Premier Division South side.

A lively start to the game saw Taunton's stand-in goalkeeper Connor Sidley-Adams called into action to deny Henry Spalding with a smart save at his near post.

At the other end, the Peacocks had a penalty shout turned down when Nick McCooty appeared to be bundled over by Luke Cooper as he entered the area. 

But the Peacocks opened the scoring in style moments later, when Dylan Morgan worked an opening to curl the ball into the far corner from around 20 yards out.

Taunton had a chance to double their lead 10 minutes before half-time when David Sims-Burgess connected with Lee Lucas' free-kick, but his header was too close to Supermarine goalkeeper Charlie Searle.

Nat Jarvis came the closest to making it two early in the second half, but the offside flag was up when he hit the outside of the post. 

The home side equalised midway through the second period when a trialist slotted the ball into the bottom corner, and Liban Ibrahim won the game for Supermarine in injury time when he was allowed to cut inside onto his left foot and lift the ball over Sidley-Adams.

After the game, Dray told Peacocks TV: “I thought we were really good tonight. 

“In the first half especially, we dominated pretty much all possession and territory, got a goal and we were good. 

“We made a raft of changes at half-time and the game disintegrated a little bit like it does, and they had their spell.

“We were a little bit sloppy with the goals, but we made enough chances tonight and we should have scored five. 

He added: “A lot of things happened before the game with the traffic, and Connor had to go in goal, and we had two centre backs not here, but sometimes you've got to deal with that, and I felt they dealt with that really well tonight.

“The result doesn't really say too much, so we're not concerned about that, really – it's what we did in and out of possession.”

Taunton start their second season in the National League South next Saturday (August 5), when they take on Braintree Town at Wordsworth Drive. 

Reflecting on the club's pre-season, he said: “I think we've come an awfully long way in a short period of time. 

“There's loads of positives. Most people have got the minutes they need to be up to speed for next week, so we're not in a bad place at all.”