Taunton Town defeat Tiverton Town in pre-season friendly

Taunton Town secured their first home win of pre-season as they beat M5 rivals Tiverton Town 2-0 on Saturday (July 25).

The two sides had been in the same division until last season when the Devon side went down to Southern League Division One and the Peacocks stayed up.

In a pre-season warm-up, Taunton manager Gary Johnson made three changes from the side which lost 4-0 to Weston-super-Mare AFC in midweek.

Dan Koita, Gabe Billington, and Phil Mendonca came in for a couple of trialists and Dylan Jones.

This game marked the first official start for Billington since signing against a team he played for last season.

Taunton Town made the faster start and tested the Tiverton Town goalkeeper inside eight minutes as Alfie Moulden’s free kick found Ben Seymour but he headed at Louis Smitth.

Less than 60 seconds later, Seymour did have his goal though as he picked up a loose ball and rounded the goalkeeper to score.

On 24 minutes, Seymour could have added to his total after getting onto a Dan Koita cross but could only direct his shot wide.

On the half-hour, Dan Koita scored a second goal as he took full advantage of a ricochet to fire home.

On 33 minutes Alfie Moulden stepped up after the home side were awarded a penalty but it was saved.

And three minutes before half time Seymour had another chance but it was straight at Smith.

Johnson made a change at half-time as a trialist came on to replace Nick Grimes and three minutes into the half Seymour had the ball in the net again but it was ruled out for offside.

Another trialist made his way onto the pitch on 55 minutes and 11 minutes later a trialist had an attempt on goal from range but it went over.

With 20 minutes to go, Godden was forced into a double save but the home side saw out the victory.